Published
By James A.Loyola
Integrated energy
company Semirara Mining and Power Corporation (SMPC) reported that
rehabilitation of the southern part of its Panian pit continues to be on
schedule.
The firm said it has
filled South Panian with 62.7 million bank cubic meters (BCM) of overburden
materials as of June this year, over 50 percent of the end-2018 target of 120
million BCM.
BCM pertains to the
volume of earth lying naturally, which is neither loose or compact owing to
mine-site activities such as excavation, among other things.
“The company is on
track in terms of the progress of the southern part of Panian pit’s
rehabilitation. Given our pace, we expect to finish filling up South Panian in
June next year, and then we can proceed with preparing the soil for plants and
trees,” said SMPC President and Chief Operating Officer Victor A. Consunji.
He added that, “we also
dedicated 25 dump trucks and four excavators for the rehabilitation work at
South Panian.”
The company embarked on
the rehabilitation of the southern part of Panian as part of its five-year Work
Program and Budget submitted to the Department of Energy.
After putting in the
overburden materials, SMPC will put humic acid, compost, and other materials to
restore nutrients in the soil and prepare it for reforestation. The company
will plant tree species that are endemic in the area.
The rehabilitation
forms part of SMPC’s goal of bringing back the original landscape of Panian,
which had open grasslands and a variety of trees and shrubs.
Reforestation
initiatives within the mining complex planted more than one million trees as of
June 2018, with species including beach agoho, narra, and molave among other
kinds of trees.
Meanwhile, surviving
mangroves planted in parts of Semirara Island’s shorelines has reached more
than 650,000 hills covering over 196 hectares — perhaps the biggest area
completed by a single private entity in the country — as of June 2018.
No comments:
Post a Comment