MGB stops small-scale mining of 100 families

BACOLOD CITY, Philippines — The Mines and Geosciences Bureau has issued a cease-and-desist order to the more than 100 families involved in unregulated small-scale gold mining activities in southern Negros Occidental.

MGB-Western Visayas director Leo Van Juguan said the order was issued to small-scale miners in Hinobaan town and Sipalay City after a geo-environmental assessment indicated the geologic hazards and environmental impacts of these mining activities in the area.

Eriberto Madalag, officer-in-charge of the Provincial Environment and Management Office (PEMO) Regulatory Services Division, said the small-scale miners can process 10 to 20 grams of gold in a single operation, and each gram can be sold at P1,700.

Juguan had apprehensions that accidents can happen if these miners go underground and do not follow safety rules. “I have to issue warning in the form of cease-and-desist order,” he said.

“We will ensure it will not become a Compostela Valley,” he added, referring to the landslides that killed scores of people in that province’s Pantukan town, where small-scale miners had been digging for gold.

Juguan however said: “We had some problems implementing the order. They refused to receive the CDO.” He said MGB has been trying to come up with a “win-win” solution to the problems. “Our hands are not really that tied. We’re trying to come up with an appropriate (solution),” he said in an interview in Bacolod Wednesday.

PEMO also raised concerns on these illegal gold mining activities because the miners use toxic chemicals for gold extraction. The mining families have been dumping hazardous waste into a creek that flows towards Bacuyangan River in Hinobaan, it said.

Madalag earlier said the inadequate skills of small-scale miners in utilizing toxic chemicals poses dangers to their health and to the environment.

Juguan said that area of more than 50 hectares between Hinobaan and Sipalay, where these small-scale mining operations take place, is part of the mining claim of Philex Gold Philippines Inc. The mining company can file a case against the small operators if they want to because the mining claim belongs to it, he said.

Juguan said MGB 6 can take a “hard stance” and file a case against the miners for ignoring the order, but then the issue also involves the livelihood of hundreds of people.  - THE FREEMAN