The Department of Environment and Natural Resources today gave Lafayette Philippines, Inc. the green light to resume its mining operations on Rapu-rapu Island, Albay.

DENR Secretary Angelo T. Reyes, who also heads the Department’s Pollution Adjudication Board (PAB), signed the formal lifting order following a thorough review by third party experts and the Mines and Geosciences Bureau (MGB) of the company’s compliance with the impositions set by the Department.

Reyes said, however, that the lifting order still comes with stringent conditions. These include the implementation of the operational control measures identified by MGB’s Technical Working Group and other actions recommended by the third party experts and the immediate expansion of the existing Multipartite Monitoring Team (MMT) to include representatives from the academe, non-government organizations and other interested stakeholders.

Reyes said the expanded MMT shall be mandated to continuously and closely monitor the mining and milling operations of the mining project and shall report directly to him.

In November 2005, the DENR suspended the operations of the Rapu-rapu Polymetallic Mining Project following two tailings spills on October 11 and 31 of the same year. It was fined a total of Php 10.4 million for violating RA 9275 or the Clean Water Act by the PAB and another Php300,000 by MGB-Region V for violating its environmental compliance certificate (ECC).

In March 2006, President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo formed an independent fact-finding commission in March 2006 headed by Sorsogon Bishop Arturo Bastes to determine and investigate the effects of the mine tailings spillage on the people’s health and the environmental safety of the project.

On July 9, 2006, the DENR allowed Lafayette to conduct a three-stage-test run of its mining operations. The objective was to determine the overall environmental soundness of its mining operations and the adequacy of the measures it has put in place to prevent a repeat of the spills.

Reyes acknowledged the substantive inputs and deep insights provided by the Bastes Commission and the third-party experts from the academe and the mining industry practitioners.

The DENR chief added that the Rapu-Rapu experience has provided the wake-up call for a more rigorous compliance by the entire mining industry to responsible and sustainable mining in the Philippines.

February 8, 2007