DENR lifts suspension on Rapu-Rapu mining

The environment department on Thursday permanently lifted the suspension on Australian company Lafayette Philippines Inc.'s mining operations in Rapu-Rapu Island, Albay, more than a year after the site was plagued by mine tailings. “(Environment Secretary Angelo Reyes) announced this afternoon that the Pollution Adjudication Board (PAB) resolved this morning to permanently lift the ‘cease and desist order’ issued by the PAB in January 2006 which resulted in the suspension of processing activities at Lafayette’s base metals plant on…Rapu-Rapu," Lafayette said in a statement on its website on Thursday. The company added that the permanent lifting order will pave the way for the immediate resumption of copper and zinc concentrate production. Reyes signed the order lifting the suspension on Lafayette’s operations after a review by Mines and Geosciences Bureau inspectors and third-party experts. The Department of Environment and Natural Resources suspended Lafayette’s operations on November 2005 following two tailings spills on Oct. 11 and 31 that year. The DENR’s pollution adjudication board also slapped a P10.4-million fine on Lafayette for violating Republic Act 9275 or the Clean Water Act, and another P300,000 for violating its environmental compliance certificate (ECC). President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo on March 2006 formed an independent fact-finding commission headed by Sorsogon Bishop Arturo Bastes to investigate the effects of the mine tailings. The fact-finding committee recommended that the mining operation's total suspension due to a health hazard it brought to the community and the reported fish kill in nearby river. But on July 9, 2006, the DENR allowed Lafayette to conduct a three-stage-test run of its mining operations in order to determine the overall environmental soundness of its mining operations and the adequacy of the measure its has put in place to prevent the recurrence of the spills. Environmental activist group Greenpeace on Thursday said it expected the DENR decision given the government's efforts to promote mining in the country. “From the start we knew that the process initiated by the DENR would eventually lead to this, given the government’s aggressive. Efforts to promote mining in the country," said Greenpeace outheast Asia Beau Baconguis in a statement. Greenpeace added that the decision had “grim" consequences for coastal communities. “While the decision is good for Lafayette, it is a grim one for the coastal communities within and around Rapu Rapu Island. With the issuance of the Permanent Lifting Order, the DENR, the government arm mandated to protect the environment, has endangered these communities and their rich marine resources," Baconguis added. -GMANews.TV