By: Ronnel W. Domingo 12:22
AM September 15th, 2016
Large-scale
miners Wednesday expressed optimism that results of the Department of
Environment and Natural Resources’ audit of all mines would be “fair.”
Findings of
the audit, supervised by antimining advocate and Environment Secretary Regina
Lopez, were supposed to be released today.
However,
DENR staff Wednesday said the much-anticipated press conference through which
Lopez would announce the results has been put off for next Thursday.
“We expect the findings to be fair, anchored
on the promise of President Rodrigo Duterte of giving us a clean government,”
said Nelia Halcon, executive vice president of the Chamber of Mines of the
Philippines (COMP).
The mining
industry official was hopeful “that the audit was done with utmost objectivity
and that the findings will be properly transmitted to the respective audited
mining companies for them to be able to address the gaps in their operations.”
She noted
that last month, during the COMP-organized Mining Philippines 2016
international forum, COMP president Benjamin Philip G. Romualdez said the group
welcome the audit considering that its members have long been practicing
responsible mining.
“We have
nothing to fear,” Romualdez said, echoing a pronouncement made by Mines and
Geosciences Bureau director Mario Luis Jacinto.
Jacinto, one
of the keynote speakers in the conference, said the audit was “a blessing in
disguise” for responsible miners because this would differentiate them from
irresponsible and illegal miners.
The audit
has so far resulted in the suspension of permits for 10 companies, including
Benguetcorp Nickel Mines Inc. (BNMI).
BNMI
operates in Zambales, where three other nickel miners had their permits
suspended for allegedly violating environmental protection laws.
In a
separate statement, BNMI said 329 students—many of whom are from communities
that host the nickel mine—could lose support for their school expenses in the
second semester of the academic year if the suspension of the company’s
operations continued.
BNMI
shoulders the tuition fees and daily allowances of 272 high school students and
57 college and technical and vocational schools students from 23 barangays in
Zambales.
The
company’s mining asset covers nine barangays in Sta. Cruz town, but its
scholarship program also covers 14 nearby barangays.
BNMI said it
has formally informed the students that it will not be able to provide
educational assistance for the second semester of the present school year due
to financial constraints.
On July 7,
the DENR under Lopez suspended the operations of BNMI effective immediately and
indefinitely.
“However,
prior to the suspension, BNMI was certified under the ISO 14001:2015 on
Environmental Management System by TUV Rheinland on March 17, 2016,” the
company said.
“The
certification was in compliance with the DENR Administrative Order No. 15-07
and came well ahead of the deadline on May 2016,” it added.
BNMI said
the suspension has severely affected not just the company “but the communities
most of all.”
ReplyDeletescatterometry optical wholesale laboratory is becoming a very popular choice amongst those who work in the optician field.
When evaluating a wholesaler, it is scatterometry important to determine how good the lens quality is for what they produce.
We can see more: scatterometry