(The Philippine Star) | Updated February 13, 2017 - 12:00am
MANILA, Philippines –
Consunji-led Semirara Mining and Power Corp. (SMPC), the country’s largest coal
producer, expects to increase production by 10 percent this year following the
on-track expansion in its mine site in Antique.
DMCI chairman and SMPC
chief executive officer Isidro Consunji said coal production may reach 13
million metric tons (MT) this year after the expansion of its coal mine at the
Molave pit.
“Last year, we produce
11.8 million MT. This year, target is a little bit more than 13 million MT,”
Consunji told reporters in a chance interview.
Apart from the
company’s expansion, the growth target also assumes favorable weather
conditions for maximized operating days.
“As long as it doesn’t
rain that much since we have La Niña now,” Consunji said.
Furthermore, he
clarified the supposed suspension of its environmental compliance certificate
(ECC) following orders from Environment Secretary Gina Lopez.
“No more issue. They inspected and there was
no violation. There was field investigation, if it appeared that there are
deficiencies, they will give you time to fix it. With us, they did not find any
violation,” Consunji said.
Last August, the
Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) issued Semirara a show
cause order to explain why violations were committed in its Molave coal mine
expansion project based on complaints of the local communities.
The complaints, which
were investigated by the agency’s fact finding team last May, included “no
proper stockpiling and disposal of the materials scooped out from the settling
ponds, and other solid wastes impermanent, stabilized areas to avoid pollution
of any water body and drainage systems, and maintaining them in safe and
non-polluting conditions.”
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