Philex to resume Padcal operations at midnight

After receiving the go-ahead from the Pollution Adjudication Board on Wednesday, Philex Mining Corporation will resume operations at its copper-gold Padcal mine in Itogon, Benguet on Friday, at or some time past midnight. It will only be a temporary resumption of operations, with the object of increasing the stability of the mine's damaged tailings pond in time for the rainy season. This will be accomplished through a process called beaching, in which millions of tons of solid tailings will fill the pond and push water away from the dam into an open spillway, creating a beach. PAB has given Philex four months to accomplish the procedure, shorter than the 4.7 months the company requested. Because of this, said Philex vice president for operations and Padcal resident manager Libby Ricafort on Thursday, the company will fast-track operations, running it 24 hours for the duration of the period. “We will start probably by past midnight,” said Ricafort. In its earlier decision to allow the company to resume operations, the Mines and Geosciences Bureau had assessed that the tailings pond, which was designed to hold solids, could collapse if heavy rains were to fall on the area during the rainy season. A collapse of the pond could dump 140 million tons of silt into the Agno River. Philex still has to settle a P92.8-million fine for violation of the Clean Water Act before it can resume operations. Environment Undersecretary and PAB presiding officer Demetrio Ignacio said the appeals process for the fine is underway. Philex suspended operations at the mine on Aug. 1, 2012 following leakage from tailings pond No. 3 after unusually heavy rains in the area. The accident dumped 20.6 million metric tons of mine waste into the environment. — BM, GMA News