Large Scale Mining
2007 Development Communication Project Members Guillermo Ocampo John Nacionales Marie Dannielle Macabitas Maria Alcantara
INTRODUCTION
EFFECTS ON ENVIRONMENT
YOUR REACTION
THE STUDY
For a better tomorrow
Thursday, October 4, 2007 Lage Scale Mining
I. Introduction According to Mines and Geosciences Bureau (MGB) of Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) our region, the Cordillera, contains 25% of all known gold reserves and 39% of all known copper reserves in the Since American Colonial times, those in power have known that a mineral belt runs beneath the central cordillera mountain range. It starts in Benguet and ends at the tip of the boundary between Apayao and Abra. At least 500 years have gone by since the Ibaloy and Kankanaey of Benguet stated to exploit this mineral belt. Now it is being tapped by thousands of small-scale gold mining peasants in five of the six Cordillera provinces. But big foreign and local capitalist aim to seize control of the gold production sites of these small-scale miners. And President Gloria Macapagal Aroyo wants them to attain their goal. She believes that it is they-especially the transnational among them – who will be able to save the country's crumbling economy. She has thus ordered the various government agencies involved to speed up the processing of the papers these capitalist need for securing the approval of their mining applications-no mater if certain laws are breached and if rights of certain persons or people are trampled.
I. Body As of end of March 2006, only 15 such applications had been approved by the MGB in the Cordillera Administrative Region (CAR). Nine of these were for mineral Production Sharing Agreement (MPSA), two for Exploration Permit (EP), and four for Industrial Sand and Gravel (ISAG). No application for Financial or Technical Assistance Agreement (FTAA) had yet been approved. The Aggregate land area covered by the approved applications for mining contracts and licenses is 13.8 thousand hectares:
But the MGB is processing many more applications. As of end of March 2006, the aggregate land area covered by these already exceeded 1.2 million hectares:
The land Area of the Cordillera Administrative Region amounts to just a little more than 1.8 million hectares (1,829,369 to be exact). Thus, more than 66% of the region is covered by mining applications that are now being processed by the government of GMA. Priority projects of the national government Even though only two EPS have been approved for the Cordillera, four items are listed among the Priority Mineral Exploration Projects of GMA:
The Tabuk Copper Project, already underway, extends to the Four mining operations are listed among GMA's priority mineral resource development projects. Two are expansion projects, and two are projects in the restoration and rehabilitation of previously abandoned mines:
Neither Itogon-Suyoc nor the state processes the capital necessary for the re-operation of its abandoned mines. GMA thus considers it her priority to draw in foreign investment for the Itogon and Batong Buhay gold projects. The Involvement of Foreign capitalist PGMA has had a direct hand in bringing in foreign monopoly capital for at least one of the priority projects on her list. In December 2004, GMA helped to broker a deal between Ivanhoe's Robert Fredland and Lepanto. The Deal provided that in exchange for a here-million dollar loan for the Teresa Gold Project, Ivanhoe would be given option to acquire a stake in Lepanto or in any of its mining claims. After few weeks, Ivanhoe now has direct interest in the mining of the 16,470 hectares covered by the company's approved by its pending application for FTAA. Ivanhoe is one of the biggest transnational in the mining industry. It mines gold, copper, and iron in But far lager than Ivanhoe is Anglo-American, a partner of Philex. It mines gold and other precious metals, copper, iron, and other base metals, diamond, and coal. It various other businesses, such as the processing and merchandising of stainless steel and paper. It started out as a British and American transnational operating in The national government hopes that transitional involvement will accelerate the development pf large-scale mining in the country, accelerate the development of large-scale mining in the country, and allow this to expand such that it becomes the dominant sector in the Philippine economy. The national government ambitiously aims to turn the Expectations of Local Government Many local government officials hope to garner huge benefits from the opening of large-scale mines in their barangay, municipality, or province. They expect to receive bigger shares o the revenues generated from taxing entries that utilize the national wealth. And they expect to collect big local taxes. They also expect the mining companies to contribute to local development in terms of infrastructure such as roads and bridges. They believe that large-scale that large-scale mining will employ a great number o their constituents. It is because of all of these that they favor the entry of large-scale mining into their areas. Effects on the Environment
Surface mining strips mountains of all forest and other vegetative cover. Deep mining also results in forest denudation in as much as it requires the feeling of timber for the shoring of tunnels. Timber is harvested not only from the large-scale deep mining operation site, but from all other areas covered by such logging licenses as the mining company may have obtained.
Surface mining alters land forms, in many cases completely leveling mountains. Deep mining weakens the structure of a mountain, in many cases manifesting as ground subsidence or collapse. Timber shoring does not prevent but only postpones the caving in of the structure underground because the timber eventually rots, and the shoring yields to the weight of the mountain.
The stripping or removal of vegetative cover from the surface reduces the capacity of the earth to absorb and retain water. Sub-surface drilling and excavation ruptures or undermines groundwater tables and disrupts groundwater paths. The discharge of groundwater to the surface diminishes; springs, wells, streams, and rivers dry up.
Liquid or liquefied chemicals that accumulate in leaching heaps and tailing dams seep into the soil and contaminate groundwater.
Petroleum fuel fumes spewed by the machines used in mining and ore processing pollute the air above and around the mine site. So does the dust from the mine itself and the mine waste dumps. The dust is invariably laden with the sulfurous oxides that results from the exposure of mineral overburden and ore to air.
Sulfurous oxides are also borne by water. Rainwater and streams that run through the mines, waste dumps, and tailings dams carry off sulfurous oxides, along with other acids eroded from mineral overburden and ore, or dissolved in the tailings.
Rainwater and streams carry eroded soil and rock from excavations and dumps, along with the sand-like ore particles from tailings, dams, to the rivers. Heavy rainfall may increase the pressure within a tailings dam and create a breach in the dam or make it collapse. To prevent this, mining companies usually relieve the pressure by releasing some of the tailings.
Rivers carry some of the sediments, sulfurous oxides, and other acids as far as the sea, affecting fish and other marine organisms. When heavy concentrations of toxic acids reach the sea, this may cause big fish kills. Effects on human health
Why, then, is the government advocating the spread of large-scale mining in the Government claims that, even now, when there are just few large scale mining operations in the country, the large scale mining industry is already making huge contributions to the local economy. The government is convinced that, with the expansion of the industry, these contributions will increase and the national economy will grow significantly. I very little development accures to the people of poor countries from large scale mining, where, then, do profits go? First to benefit are the capitalists who own large mining firms like Anglo-American and Ivanhoe. These firms gross billions of dollars a year from plundering the mineral resources of the Congo, Zambia, Botswana, Namibia, Sierra Leone, Papua New Guinea, Peru, Bolivia, South Africa, Tanzanita and other countries. The amount of money which Anglo-American distributes as dividends to its stockholders every year is far larger than that which it leaves with the people of Next are the financiers who extend credit to the large mining firms and the traders who deal in these firms’ products. The biggest among them is the Rothschild family, which provided Lepanto with the bullion hedging facility that it used to help finance its Victoria Gold Project in Mankayan. Some analysts say that more of the money from large-scale mining goes into the pockets of bankers and traders than to the mining companies themselves. What can we, therefore, say about government's program for the development of large-scale mining? The economic importance of mining is undeniable. The fuels and metals it produces are vital to the industry. But large-scale mining need not be widespread. And it need not become the dominant sector of the economy, or be regarded as the most critical sector. It ought not to be rendered free of regulation and unbounded by law just because of its importance to the economy. In fact, it ought to be tightly controlled so that it does not undermine other sectors whose viability depends on the health of the environment. If large-scale mining were only well-regulated, its orientation could be redirected so that, instead of serving capitalism’s insatiable desire for profit, it would server the interests of the people. |