496 jobs lost during first permanent layoff at Didipio gold mine

As many as 496 employees at the Didipio gold and copper mine have lost their jobs during the first round of permanent layoff conducted by Australian-Canadian miner OceanaGold Corporation (OceanaGold).

Along with the termination of direct employees, approximately 400 people working with contractors were also impacted.

“Today is a sad day for the company and for the many hundreds of workers and their families," OceanaGold President and Chief Executive Officer Michael Holmes said in a press statement.

The first round of permanent layoff came more than a year after the Financial and Technical Assistance Agreement (FTAA) between OceanaGold Philippines, Inc. (OGPI) and the Philippine government expired. To make things worse for the firm, OGPI has also been facing opposition from the local government unit (LGU) of Nueva Vizcaya for its project.

In June last year, Nueva Vizcaya Governor Carlos Padilla released an order to stop the company’s operation as soon as its FTAA expired. At that time, a barricade was established surrounding the Didipio mine site.

This, Holmes said in a recent statement, “constrained our ability to continue operations over the past 15 months.”

Aside from the 496 employees, who are predominantly from local communities in the Provinces of Nueva Vizcaya and Quirino, the company may implement a second round of permanent layoffs in midNovember.

For this, OGPI said it already provided notices to affected employees.

Prior to the layoff, the Didipio mine site employed 1,500 employees, of which 90 percent are Filipinos and 57 percent are from local communities.

“The Company has actively participated in community-led dialogue supported by the majority of village and municipal governments along with the majority of local residents in Didipio. Despite these efforts, a small group of local leaders have refused to consider access arrangements that would have preserved these jobs,” Holmes said.

“We thank local employees and local government leaders for their strong support and efforts to avoid permanent layoffs, especially during this difficult time with COVID19,” he added.