TVIRD familiarization tour for responsible mining for Monkayo officials
“We thought all along that open-cut mining is destructive to the environment, but our long-held belief has just been altogether erased after we saw everything here in Canatuan. Wala ka nang hahanapin pa. (You can’t find anything more anywhere else.) We have proven that there is really such a thing called responsible mining, and it is happening here in Canatuan,” said Manuel Brillantes, municipal mayor of Monkayo.
Clearly, elective officials in Monkayo town, in Compostela Valley province were impressed by the mining practices of TVI Resource Development (Phils.) Inc. (TVIRD) in its copper-zinc mine site in Canatuan, Siocon, Zamboanga del Norte, just recently.
The more than P1 billion tailings’ impoundment facility that contains wastes from the process plant caught the attention of the local officials, who had to travel to Zamboanga Peninsula to see for themselves responsible mining advocated by the company.
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Monkayo, in Compostela Valley is where Mt. Diwalwal is located. It is considered as one of the most-mineralized area in the Philippines where the biggest number of small-scale miners is converged.
Moncayo Vice-Mayor Avelino Cabag was particularly moved by the environmental protection programs of TVIRD. He thought it should be duplicated in his town. He was notably impressed with TVIRD’s Sulphide Dam, the tailing impoundment facility that cost more than a billion pesos to the company.
“I am glad I found so much information here that can help the local government create a program that protects our highly-mineralized town,” he said.
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Mayor Brillantes on the other hand, was more inspired by the social services aspect provided by the company to its host and adjacent communities. “Surely, I will make it happen in Diwalwal with the help of the national and provincial governments,” the mayor said.
Councilor Joel Caballes thanked TVIRD for the opportunity to tour the mine site. “Here we have proven that open pit mining is not destructive as long as it is done responsibly, he commented.
The Central Bank of the Philippines recently has declared that Diwalwal area’s gold income is estimated at P25 Million a day. But most of its miners are also known to be using crude and environmentally-harmful methods in mining.
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Brillantes, Cabag and the town’s local legislators spent the day taking a look at the mine pit, the tailings impoundment facility, mill plant, the nursery, and some reforested areas.
They too, took a look at the company Clinic where they learned that it does not only serve company employees but also the Subanon people in Canatuan and communities surrounding the mine site. The officials saw the Clinic having facilities that include an ambulance that ferries patients free of charge.
“Here, we give the appropriate medicines and treatments not just prescriptions,” Dr. Ulysses Silorio, the company’s senior physician, told the visitors.
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The officials found the computers and net books for the students, adequate classrooms and teachers, Wi-Fi for internet access, and school buses to ferry students daily of the Canatuan National High School quite remarkable, too. .
The day was capped with a dinner with Siocon Mayor Ceasar Soriano who told them his town is benefiting from the mining operation of the company, especially its on- time payment of local taxes.
Both Siocon and Monkayo are first-class municipalities. Siocon, however, was just third-class prior to TVIRD’s mining operation in 2004. It was elevated into its present status because of bigger income from local taxes.
Upon leaving, the officials requested to bring home copies of the PowerPoint presentation and the video clip showing best mining practices here so they can spread the ‘good news’ to their hometown.(Joseph Arnel C. Deliverio)
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