By
Lenie Lectura - December 23, 2019
THE Department of
Energy (DOE) has laid down recommendations that will lead to the lifting of the
suspension order earlier imposed on Semirara Mining and Power Corp. (SMPC).
Among the
recommendations are the reorganization of the SMPC’s safety department, identification
of risk areas and crafting of mining methodology.
“We inspected
yesterday. We validated all our recommendations. First and foremost is the
safety aspect, so we recommended to reorganize the safety department, to have a
consultant also for safety,” said Energy Undersecretary Donato Marcos.
“Then we told them to
identify the risk area, then we established a mining methodology for
that. Of course, as always, in consideration [of] and prioritizing the
safety of the people working there,” he added.
These recommendations,
upon compliance, will eventually result in the lifting of the suspension of the
company’s mining operations following a mudflow incident in Semirara
Island in Antique, in October.
The agency is now
evaluating if the company has complied with the recommendations. “We have done
three inspections. Every inspection, they submit supplemental accomplishments,
documents so we have to validate them. Yesterday was their third and final
compliance,” he said.
If the final evaluation
shows 100-percent compliance, Marcos said the suspension order could be lifted
before the year ends.
SMPC earlier said that
despite the suspension of mining activities, it still met its output target for
the year.
It had expected
opportunity loss in production per day to reach 40,000 to 45,000 metric tons
due to the incident. Still, the company’s total production already reached 14.5
million metric tons (MMT), 12 percent higher than the year ago.
Coal shipment also
increased by 26 percent to 14.6 MMT.
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