The Alyansa Tigil Mina Blog

http://www.mb.com.ph/PROV2006062968041.html
By ELLALYN DE VERA

Environment and Natural Resources Secretary Angelo Reyes welcomed yesterday a Supreme Court (SC) ruling that placed all mining operations at the Diwalwal “gold-rush” area in the Agusan-Davao-Surigao forest reserve under the supervision and control of the government.
The same ruling also cancelled all mining permits in the area.

Reyes said the decision would enable the government, through the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR), to control and supervise mining operations in the area.
This would ensure the protection of the environment as well as the health of the miners, prospectors, and residents.

Justice Minita Chico Nazario promulgated last Monday the decision, reversing a Court of Appeals (CA) ruling that the Exploration Permit No. 133 of Marcopper Mining Corp. (MMC) had long expired and, therefore, the transfer of the permit to the firm’s subsidiary, Southeast Mindanao Gold Mining Corp. (SEM), was illegal.

The SC also declared as illegal the segregation of 729 hectares (has) in the forest reserve as non-forest lands which were opened to small-scale mining operations in 1991 by then DENR Secretary Fulgencio Factoran Jr. through a department administrative order. (more…)

Thursday, June 29, 2006
http://www.manilatimes.net/national/2006/june/29/yehey/prov/20060629pro2.html
By Mark Ivan Roblas, Correspondent

THE Department of Environment and Natural Resources has began separate inquiries into the reported mercury contamination in Nueva Vizcaya and illegal fishing in La Union.
Environment Secretary Angelo Reyes said he has received reports that residents of Barangay Didipio Kasibu, Nueva Vizcaya, may need to be relocated for the mercury contamination of the river.

Reyes said the river became polluted because of the mercury used by small-scale miners in the area.

In Santo Tomas, La Union, some 300 fishermen in 10 coastal villages have asked the town council and the Coast Guard to stop the operation of big commercial fishing vessels within the town’s 15-kilometer fishing zone, Reyes said.

He instructed the department’s regional officers to look into the pollution and destruction of the environment in both provinces, and to take action against the companies and persons involved.
Reyes said his department is committed to promote a clean and healthy environment and to protect the country’s natural resources from exploitation.

“Sustainable development is not necessarily incompatible with a clean and healthy environment,” he said.

Thursday, June 29, 2006

http://www.manilatimes.net/national/2006/june/29/yehey/prov/20060629pro4.html

SAN MIGUEL, Bulacan: For mountaineers like Everest conquerors Leo Oración and Erwin “Pastor” Emata, the sight of the historic Biak-na-Bato being slowly destroyed by marble quarrying is more excruciating than climbing the world’s highest mountain.

“We are mountaineers and our lives revolve around mountains. This sigh is not only cruel and harsh but also feels like a different kind of torture for us,” Oración said, shortly after he and Emata and other members of the First Philippine Mount Everest Expedition Team reached the top of Mount Manalmon in Biak-na-Bato.

The two mountaineers scaled the slopes of Biak-na-Bato and reached the top of Mount Manalmon in a record 30 minutes as part of their campaign to save the historic site.
Biak-na-Bato was the mountain hideout of the Filipino revolutionaries in their war of liberation against Spain. It also became the site of the peace treaty between the Spanish and the Filipinos on August 9, 1897.

The expedition members were joined by 200 mountaineers, environmentalists, representatives of civic groups, students, local policemen and the media. Together, they witnessed the destruction of the nearby Mount Nabio due to the extraction of marbles through dynamite blasting. (more…)

June 28, 2006
http://www.manilatimes.net/national/2006/june/28/yehey/business/20060628bus11.html

ATLAS Consolidated Mining and Development Corp. has secured an environmental compliance certificate from the Department of Environment and Natural Resources for the company’s Berong nickel project in Palawan.

In a disclosure to the Philippine Stock Exchange, Atlas said it plans to develop the project initially as a direct shipping operation to ship “unprocessed high grade saprolite ore to international nickel smelters and unprocessed limonite to regional acid leach, ammonia leach and blast furnace plants.”

“Atlas has entered into an agreement with Toledo Mining Corp. (TMC) . . ., whereby TMC initially funds the development of the direct shipping project to earn an interest. In addition TMC has provided a $5-million convertible loan to Atlas to cover future funding contribution requirements by Atlas to the project,” the disclosure read.

The company said it has conducted confirmatory exploration and resampling program in the initial production plan since December last year. (more…)