Samar copper mine rehab timetable to extend to 2017
THE complete rehabilitation of the long-dormant Bagacay copper mine in Samar has been delayed by another year but current reforestation efforts at the site has shown promise, a regulator said.
Engineer Rodolfo L. Velasco, Jr., chief of the Mines and Geosciences Bureau’s (MGB) Mine Safety, Environment and Social Development Division, said that the aim was to reforest the 130-hectare site by this year but natural disasters have led to delays to the schedule.
“The target was not attained since it’s still in recovery stage. (Full reforestation) is still our target. But it might extend on the timeline to 2017,” said Mr. Velasco in an earlier interview with BusinessWorld.
“Access to the site has been difficult since the storm,” he added, referring to Typhoon Haiyan, known locally as Yolanda, which hit the central Philippines in November 2013.
The rehabilitation project started in 2008 with a series of feasibility studies, followed by the start of work in 2013.
Remediation efforts for the Bagacay site, one of the priority projects of the Philippine Development Program of the Aquino administration, are being undertaken by the Department of Environment and Natural Resources’s research arm the Ecosystems Research and Development Bureau (ERDB), as funded by the MGB.
Average annual funds for the Bagacay project are about P10 million but stretching the timetable for the target will not be an issue as the remaining budget carried over from the unused funds over the years is sufficient to cover the one-year extension.
The Bagacay Mine was operated by Marinduque Mine Industrial Corp. from 1956 to 1985.
In 1986, the firm entered into an agreement with Philippine Phosphate Fertilizer Corp. which in turn partnered with its subsidiary Philippine Pyrite Corporation (PPC) which operated the mine to produce pyrite concentrate from 1986 until 1992 when rising operational costs and other issues led to its closure.
The Bagacay site was found to have acid drainage problems and contains potentially toxic metals.
During the restoration phase, the regulator spread limestone on the site to mitigate the acid drainage problem, which was polluting a nearby nature reserve.
According to a statement from the ERDB e-mailed to reporters on Friday, some 42 hectares of the inactive copper-pyrite mine has been rehabilitated so far through the use of phytoremediation, in which plants absorb polluting mineral substances in the soil.
The ERDB also determined the potential of selected indigenous tree species in regreening and absorbing toxic elements in the abandoned mined-out area and also revealed that organic fertilizer treatment could work well.
The initial results of the phytoremediation study conducted by the DENR-ERDB and MGB shows that “mined-out areas can be rehabilitated through the use of appropriate technology,” said ERDB Director Dr. Henry A. Adornado in the statement.
ERDB expressed hope that the initial results of the project “may inspire other mining companies to use similar rehabilitation protocols to bring back the natural state of the mined out areas in the Philippines.”
Section 47 of the Presidential Decree 705 or Revised Forestry Code of the Philippines states that surfacemined areas shall be rehabilitated to “as near its former natural configuration” or as approved by the government prior to its abandonment by the mining company concerned. —