Semirara starts hiring as company expands

By VG Cabuag - July 16, 2017

http://www.businessmirror.com.ph/semirara-starts-hiring-as-company-expands/

SEMIRARA Mining and Power Corp. (SMPC), a unit of DMCI Holdings Inc., said it has hired 387 personnel for key positions in its Semirara Island mine site to support its operational expansion plans.

The company is increasing its coal production to 16 million metric tons (MMT) in the next two to three years in line with the national government’s thrust for power stability, optimal energy pricing and modernized infrastructure, SMPC said.

Last year the company reached its highest coal production level at 11.9 MMT. The majority of its coal supply was sold to local power and cement producers.

Company President and COO Victor Consunji said the firm still needs to fill close to 170 positions in its mine site within the year. To meet their talent requirements, the company has begun conducting interisland job caravans, it said.

In May its job caravan attracted more than 100 job seekers from Semirara Island and nearby areas, like Mindoro and Iloilo. It hired 40 personnel, or nearly 40 percent of the total number of applicants, from the said caravan.

“Applicants were given a tour of the mine site to become familiar with the company’s operations. Those from nearby islands were also given temporary housing during their stay,” the company said.

“We are grateful to our host community, the LGU [local government unit] and public-sector partners for helping us with our recruitment efforts. With their continued assistance, we can provide more people with high-value employment,” Consunji said.

Among the vacant positions in the Semirara Island mine site are skilled positions, such as dump truck drivers, backhoe and bulldozer operators, motor graders, water truck drivers, cadet engineers, staff auditors and staff nurses.

The company is the only power producer in the country that owns and mines its own fuel source—coal—which allows it to generate reliable, affordable energy for the Luzon and Visayas grids.

DMCI, a firm known for its construction projects in the country, earlier said it has 1 billion tons of limestone reserve on Semirara Island, enough to support its cement manufacturing plant for the next 500 years.

DMCI Chairman and President Isidro Consunji earlier said the limestone reserve is not an issue for them to operate its own cement plant within the same island where the coal is mined. The company, however, has to secure the necessary permits from the government agencies, such as the Mineral Production Sharing Agreement, and it still has to inform the Department of Energy, its regulator, on its new venture.

Consunji said the company will spend more than $300 million for the cement plant that has a capacity of 5,000 tons a day, or 2.4 million tons per year.