OceanaGold permit stays
THE LOCAL UNIT of Australian miner OceanaGold Corp. said the Environment department has not revoked its recently received exploration permit for its Nueva Vizcaya mine as the agency, through its secretary, earlier threatened to do so.
“We have not been advised officially by the DENR (Department of Environment and Natural Resources) and there should be no reason why that should be withdrawn because it was just granted to us,” OceanaGold (Philippines), Inc. Chairman Jose P. Leviste, Jr. told reporters on the sidelines of a mining industry conference held Wednesday.
The OceanaGold official was responding to questions on whether the agency’s Secretary Regina Paz L. Lopez has acted on her threat to take away the company’s exploration permit for the area surrounding its Didipio mine in Nueva Vizcaya, which stemmed from companies by non- government organizations that OcenaGold’s mining activities posed threats to the environment.
“We’re not going to agricultural areas. We will focus on highly mineralized areas which, by nature, are not agricultural,” Mr. Leviste said.
OceanaGold has not commenced its exploration activities in the area, Mr. Leviste said. “We’ve been waiting to start for a long long time.”
Earlier this year, the Australian miner received a five-year extension to its mining contract.
OceanaGold holds a financial or technical assistance agreement with the government for a mining area covering some 158 square kilometers in the provinces of Nueva Vizcaya and Quirino.