PHL govt allows Philex Mining to resume Padcal operations

The Mines and Geosciences Bureau on Tuesday allowed Philex Mining Corp. to resume operations at its shuttered Padcal Mine site in Itogon, Benguet.

 

In an order issued Tuesday and signed by acting director Leo Jasareno, the Mines Bureau said it was authorizing Philex Mining “... to resume operation in order to undertake urgent remediation measures for Tailings Storage Facility No. 3 under its proposed Rehabilitation and Clean-up Plan.”

 

The order, a copy of which was e-mailed to the media, gave Philex Mining four months to fix its broken waste pond, provided that the company hires “an independent third party to undertake and a monitoring and audit of the remediation measures...”

 

The Mines Bureau noted that the third party must have “no business interest in Philex Mining Corp. or its subsidiaries and affiliates and shall be chosen jointly by Philex Mining Corp. and this Office.”

 

On August 2, 2012, the Mines Bureau Cordillera Administrative Region suspended the operations of Padcal Mine at the height of enhanced monsoon rains that broke the mine's tailings storage facility a day earlier. 

 

More 20.6 million metric tons of mine waste spilled from the tailings pond and contaminated the immediate environment, including the Balog Creek that merges with the Agno River. — Victor Sollorano/KBK, GMA News