Ensuring the safety of kith and kin

Top photo shows the core of the Sulphide
Dam construction team — (from left) Nestor Valenzuela, Arnold Caban, Ed Nercuit
and Teofilo Cayabyab – poring over a site map of the copper-zinc tailings
storage facility they are building. The Sulphide Dam, shown in middle photo,
is about 60% complete. In bottom photo, Nercuit calls a safety meeting with
his foremen and staff before a day’s work. Making the dam safe is a
responsibility that Nercuit and his men are fully aware of and would never
compromise.

Numbering 50, the members of the Sulphide Dam team have been
working 24/7 since June. They belong to different faiths – Muslims,
Subanons, and Christians, much like the multi-cultural diversity of Siocon
– but they are united in their hope and prayer that, like TVIRD’s
Gossan (Gold-Silver) Project that ended last April after nearly four years
in operation, the Sulphide (Copper-Zinc) Project will be another success.

“Heavenly Father, place in Your loving protection all
the workers of this company, especially those who are building this dam,”
prayed Pastor Bonnie Mendoza of the Alliance Church of Siocon along with team
members, mostly from the Civil Engineering Services (CES) headed by Nercuit.
“Protect also their families left in their homes and, in Your mercy,
let the workers realize their enormous responsibility to make this project
safe to all.”

It’s a responsibility that Nercuit and his men are fully
aware of – and would never compromise. He has more than 20 years experience
in vertical and horizontal civil works in the Philippines and abroad to back
him up and to make sure that the Sulphide Dam is constructed such that it
will be safe.

Nercuit has earned a reputation in TVIRD as an experienced dam
builder. He was the spearhead of the teams that constructed the Upper Dam,
the Lower Dam, and the Gossan Dam – all gold and silver tailings impoundment
facilities for the first phase of the company’s operations in Canatuan.

Above, Ed Nercuit inspects the kangkong (river spinach) vegetables that were
recently planted along the banks of the now idle Gossan Dam, the construction
of which he also spearheaded. An aerial shot of the Gossan Dam, decommissioned
last April, is shown below. His team has been working closely with consultant
engineering firms Knight Piesold and Smith Williams, two world-renowned US-based
builders and designers of dams.

“Hashim”, as Nercuit is referred to by his Muslim
brethren, built these dams following design specifications and standards set
and monitored by highly respected international engineering firms. “At
the same time, I also always keep in mind the safety of my loved ones, friends
and town mates in Siocon, as well as the reputation of my name, my profession,
and that of TVIRD,” he says.

Nercuit points out that as in the previous dams that he constructed,
his team has been working side by side with representatives of the consultant
engineering firms, Knight Piesold and Smith Williams Consulting in ensuring
that construction activities follow the design and specifications for the
Sulphide Dam, which was designed by Smith Williams. The current construction
is being closely monitored by both TVIRD Vice President for Philippine Operations
Yulo Perez and TVIRD Vice President for Environment and Civil Works Jay Nelson.

“While there has actually been more rain this year compared
to last year, the Sulphide Dam construction plan has been properly managed
and executed,” Perez says. “This, coupled with the fact that Nercuit
and Teofilo Cayabyab, the dam’s general foreman, have gained lots of
experience in building the company’s dams, has kept the dam construction
on schedule.”

Fidel Bontao (middle) is flanked by the TVIRD Canatuan
Environment Department Reforestation Team (from left) Gemma Tolentino, Gaudiosa
Simbawan, Paulino Goon, and Nandot Lumapis, who are all members of the Subanon
tribe. The current plan for the Gossan tailings storage facilities is to rehabilitate
these areas as plantation type cash crop zones and to rehabilitate the Sulphide
tailings storage facilities as an aquaculture type environment.

Nercuit says the Sulphide Dam’s design fits well with
Canatuan’s topographic, geotechnical and seismic conditions. “We
have been recording daily rainfall data for many years. This allows us to
recognize what months of the year have the heaviest rains and subsequently
adjust our construction activities accordingly.”

Apart from Cayabyab, Nercuit is also being assisted by Nestor
Valenzuela and Arnold Caban, both CES supervisors. Valenzuela is in charge
of installing the dam internal drainage system, while Caban tracks down the
daily expenses of the dam to avoid “overspending”. An architect
by profession, Caban sometimes works in the field to assist Cayabyab and Valenzuela
in their jobs.

Meanwhile, Fidel Bontao, manager of TVIRD Canatuan’s Environment
unit, secures the required government permits and helps implement various
environmental management programs that would, among others, enhance, protect
and “regreen” the dam area after its construction.

Prior to construction of the Gossan Phase dams, Bontao was instrumental
in obtaining the endorsements, approvals and permits required to construct
the dams. This also included facilitation for agency review of the dam design
criteria, construction plans and construction specifications. This work has
continued through the Sulphide Dam implementation process.

Bontao also helps to facilitate the review and evaluation of
the dams and the mining operations as they affect the environmental management
programs mandated by the regulatory agencies. This includes monitoring of
the dams during and after operations and review of the regulatory provisions
in conjunction with the Mine Rehabilitation Fund Committee through the Multi-Partite
Monitoring Team.

Ed Nercuit (second from right) checks
the specs of an electrical wire with an electrician as foreman Dativo Auza
(second from left) and Xavier Panoso (extreme right) of Knight Piesold look
on. “I also always keep in mind the safety of my loved ones, friends
and town mates in Siocon, as well as the reputation of my name, my profession,
and that of TVIRD,” Nercuit says.

TVIRD has and is in continued consultation with the community
with regards to the final mine closure and land use plans for the entire mine
operations area. Included in these plans are the tailings storage facilities
associated with both the Gossan and Sulphide phase operations. The current
plan for the Gossan tailings storage facilities is to rehabilitate these areas
as plantation type cash crop zones and to rehabilitate the Sulphide tailings
storage facilities as an aquaculture type environment.

To keep track of the structural integrity of all the dams, Bontao’s
and Nercuit’s men jointly monitor and report the monitoring results
to TVIRD Top Management on a weekly basis. Meanwhile, the Multi-Partite Monitoring
Team inspect the dams and all environmental related projects of the company
every quarter of the year. The team is composed of representatives from the
Zamboanga Provincial government, the local government of Siocon, environmental
and business non-government organizations from Siocon, the Mine and Geosciences
Bureau, the Environmental Management Bureau, the host indigenous people’s
community, and the Canatuan Project’s host barangay Tabayo.

Before joining TVIRD, Nercuit worked for the late King Fahd
bin Abdul Aziz Al Saud of Saudi Arabia on the construction of a palace for
the king’s son and the other housing projects of the kingdom. He has
also built roads, bridges, and houses in Malaysia, India and Brunei. He said
that just as he gave everything he knew for those projects, so too has he
done the same for TVIRD’s dams. “I intend to leave an untainted
name to my children,” he says.

With those words and with his personal stake in Siocon, Nercuit
echoes what Subanon elder Ely Comisas had said in one of the community gatherings:
“The dams are our concern. We will not exchange the safety of our people
for royalty payments. I personally have farms near the Litoban River (a Siocon
tributary); my relatives and friends have theirs, too. We will not allow siltation
in any creek in Canatuan nor any river in Siocon because we want to leave
living bodies of water for the next generation of Subanons in our homeland.”
(Lullie Micabalo)

The Sulphide Dam construction team after
a morning ecumenical service. they are united in their hope and prayer that,
like TVIRD’s Gossan Project, the Sulphide Project will be another success.