By Louise Maureen Simeon (The
Philippine Star) | Updated August 10, 2016 - 12:00am
MANILA, Philippines – The Department
of Environment and Natural Resources has suspended the operations of Ore Asia
Mining and Development Corp., the only iron-producing mine in the country, in
line with its drive against irresponsible mining.
DENR Undersecretary Leo Jasareno,
head of the mining audit team, said mid-scale miner Ore Asia failed to secure
the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) 14001 certification
for Environmental Management System (EMS).
Failure of companies to secure or
maintain ISO 14001 certification will result in the suspension of the
environmental compliance certificate (ECC) and non-issuance of ore transport
permit (OTP).
“There were also complaints of
siltation of the river, which is a tributary of the Sibul Spring in Bulacan,”
Jasareno said.
“The ore permits allow the transport
of the ore from the mine to the market. If you withdraw the OTP, hauling would
also stop,” he added.
Last year, Ore Asia’s mine located
in Doña Remedios Trinidad, Bulacan produced about 40,000 tons of iron.
Established in 1996, the ISO 14001
EMS standard is a systematic framework to manage the immediate and long term
environmental impacts of an organization’s products, services and processes.
Former DENR chief Ramon Paje signed
Administrative Order 2015-07 mandating all mining contractors to secure
ISO 14001 certification that shows mining operations pass the international
standard and have a good EMS.
Meanwhile, Environment Secretary
Gina Lopez plans to create a separate website which will post the results of
the agency’s audit of all suspended and existing mines.
“All audit findings will be made
public. We want everything to be transparent,” Lopez said.
To date, the DENR has suspended
seven mining companies already and is on track to finish the audit of all 42
metallic mines within the month.
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