by Madelaine B. Miraflor September
30, 2016
The governor of Agusan
del Norte, home to two mining operations, is appealing to the government to
spare from suspension the companies they are hosting because this would result
to a significant increase in unemployment in the province.
SR Metals Inc. (SRMI)
and Agata Mining Ventures Inc. are two of the 20 mining companies that are at
risk of losing their permit to operate, based on the audit results filed by the
Department of Environmental and Natural Resources (DENR) Mining Audit Team.
“We are asking DENR to
spare Agusan del Norte. We are not neglecting our environment. We have our
people to protect,”
Agusan del Norte Governor Angel Amante-Matba said in an interview with reporters.
“The problem in Agusan is the problem of the
politics, that’s the truth. What I’m asking to the Secretary is go down and see
the operations. I want to plead to her,” she added.
Matba also said that
she was “surprised” that the mining companies in their province are now being
recommended for suspension.
“In the copy of the
audit report, I did not see anything that would really cause for an alarm
enough for them to call for a possible suspension,” she further said.
The DENR is
particularly asking SR Metals to explain why it should not be held liable for
its “violations“,
one of which is use of a provincial road as a private mine road.
There is also a
petition from the Municipal Government of Agusan del Norte and the League of
Barangays for the cancellation of the company’s Mineral Production Sharing
Agreement (MPSA).
SR Metals president and
chief executive officer Miguel Alberto Gutierrez already said earlier that the
company will make clarifications about two issues raised by the DENR and that
it continues to act in accordance with responsible mining.
“We sincerely hope for
a clear resolve once all issues are answered,” Gutierrez said.
SR Metals’ revised
mineral production sharing agreement (MPSA), which it received last year,
covers more than 1,000 hectares in Barangay La Fraternidad in this town.
Meanwhile, TVI Resource
Development (Philippines), Inc. (TVIRD), which holds a 60 percent stake in
Agata Mining, will further delay its plan go public after the audit result
showed it is one of the companies that may be suspended for environmental
violations.
TVIRD said it “has placed all activities relating to
its previously proposed listing on the Philippine Stock Exchange and initial
public offering [IPO] on hold” because of certain uncertainties.
It was not the first
time that TVIRD has postponed its plan to conduct an IPO.
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