Dalicno small miners receive P40-M aid

From 2021 to 2023, Itogon-Suyoc Resources Inc. (ISRI) remitted P40,534,580.65 to the Dalicno Small Scale Miners’ Association (Dassma) under its Big Brother Small Brother (BBSB) program.

“Small-scale miners are our partners in growing our local economy,” said Eric Andal, acting resident manager of ISRI.

In 2023 alone, more than P17.9 million was remitted to ISRI’s erstwhile partner under the BBSB.

Through its BBSB, ISRI works with small-scale miners’ associations, giving them areas to mine within their tenement and upskilling them through training on industry-standard safety practices and provision of appropriate tools to mine safely. A total of 286 small-scale miners benefited from BBSB from the years 2021 to 2023.

ISRI ensures full transparency in the implementation of the BBSB program.

Earlier, ISRI partnered with some small-scale mining associations in the municipality under the BBSB Program to allow the pocket miners to operate under its umbrella and enhance their compliance to the stringent guidelines for their legitimate operations.

Relative to the allegation on the false assay results, it is clearly stipulated in the signed memorandum of agreement (MoA) between ISRI and Dassma that the computed billing should be confirmed first by the leaders of the group before final processing of the payment.

BBSB leaders may verify the grade of their workplaces and once delivered, the company’s engineering and geology department may share the determined values for review prior to implementation.

From the initial eight leaders at the start of the BBSB implementation several years ago, the number increased to 13 in 2023, a clear indication that the program earned the trust and confidence of the participating small-scale mining groups.

ISRI decided not to renew the MoA with Dassma because of the gravity of the violations that were committed by the group during the course of the said agreement.

These grave violations included lost time and non-lost time injuries of seven cases resulting from negligence and noncompliance to standard operating procedures, five high-grading cases and an overall performance of only 68 percent from January to September 2023.