The Alyansa Tigil Mina Blog

Michael Vaughan, http://www.miningnews.net/StoryView.asp?StoryID=61753

Tuesday, July 11, 2006

MERGER activity has hit the Australian gold sector for the first time
in the current cycle now that Oceana Gold and Climax Mining have agreed to merge to create a company that will likely be producing 550,000 ounces of gold equivalent by 2008.

The two Australian companies with overseas projects - Oceana in New
Zealand and Climax in the Philippines - expect to put the proposed merger to shareholders in late October.

The terms of the merger will see Climax shareholders given 0.62 of a
share in Oceana for every share in Climax held along with 0.31 of an option to acquire an Oceana share for 92.5c. The options will mature in 30 months. (more…)

The Bohol Chronicle -
http://www.theboholchronicle.com/editorial.php?issue=169&s1=2239&s2=&s3=&s4=%09%09%09%09%09%09%09&s5=2243&s6=&s7=2244&s9=

Post Marcos, the Catholic Church, especially with His Immensity the
late firebrand Cardinal Sin, was always eloquent on social issues.
The “Social Doctrine of the Church” has always been prophetic as to
what Filipinos can become from they are today. She had always been
consistent on the role of the Laity for social transformation and the family as the center of evangelization.

The Catholic Church, fortunately, dwells not in an Ivory Tower
insulated from the day to day Calvary of Her constituency. Time and again, She had issued pastoral letters on politics, economics, culture and spirituality - and had therefore been accused by the myopic as meddling in State affairs. (more…)

Monday, July 10 2006

http://www.infoshop.org/inews/article.php?story=20060710215854258

Greenpeace Southeast Asia Toxics Campaigner Beau Baconguis said: “The countdown to another oceans disaster has begun. The start of the controlled 30-day test run granted to Lafayette by the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) signals the resumption of Lafayette’s operations in Rapu Rapu, and the continuation of the destruction that the mine will wreak on the fragile marine ecosystem around the island, and consequently on the coastal communities that depend upon these waters.” (more…)

http://www.mb.com.ph/BSNS2006071369140.html

Lepanto Consolidated Mining Company will resume commercial copper production by September this year through its Victoria Copper-Gold Flotation project in Benguet.
Lepanto chairman Felipe Yap said in an interview yesterday that they have already begun rehabilitation work and should be able to start commercial production in two months.

Lepanto vice president Odette Javier also informed the Philippine Stock Exchange that the firm has filed with the Board of Investments an application for the registration of the Victoria Copper-Gold Flotation project for incentives as a new project, non-pioneer status.

Yap said they have decided to resume operations since the current high price of copper, at around three dollars a pound, makes the project viable again. He said they shut down the mine when copper price fell to only 70 cents a pound. (more…)

http://business.inq7.net/money/topstories/view_article.php?article_id=9448

Associated Press
(Mla time) 07/12/2006

THE PHILIPPINES on Wednesday ordered an evaluation of mining sites in the country after a cyanide-laced waste spill at an Australian-operated mine last year led to suspension of the company’s operations.

The evaluation should zero in on the facilities’ tailing ponds and waste dumps as the rainy season sets in, Environment Secretary Angelo Reyes told a news conference.
Lafayette Philippines Inc., wholly owned by Australia’s Lafayette Mining Ltd., has temporarily suspended operations on Rapu Rapu island in the central Philippines after the incident last year. (more…)

http://business.inq7.net/money/topstories/view_article.php?article_id=9518
Inquirer

AFTER suspending its copper operations for about five years, Lepanto Consolidated Mining Co. plans to reopening its copper mine in Mankayan town in the northern province of Benguet by September in view of the rising metal prices in the world market, company chairman Felipe Yap said.

Copper prices have surged to a high of $3 a pound in the international market this year, from a low of 70 cents in 2001 that had made it difficult for Lepanto to continue operating the Mankayan mine, Yap said. (more…)

http://globalnation.inq7.net/news/breakingnews/view_article.php?article_id=9366
By Blanche Rivera
Inquirer

THE RAINS would be critical in determining the efficiency of the environmental control mechanisms put up by Lafayette Mining Ltd. during its 30-day test run, an official of the Mines and Geosciences Bureau (MGB) said Tuesday.
The impact of the volume of rainfall on Rapu-Rapu Island in Albay province, which hosts the 1.4-billion-peso Rapu-Rapu Polymetallic Project, would reveal the stability of the dams and other structures that were enhanced by Lafayette as a precondition for the test run.

“The rains will tell [us] whether there’s anything more we need to fix,” Mines and Environmental Safety chief Michael Cabalda said in an interview Tuesday.
“The countdown to another ocean disaster has begun,” Greenpeace Southeast Asia toxics campaigner Beau Bacongis said, warning that the test run heralded “the continuation of the destruction that the mine will wreak on the fragile marine ecosystem around the island.
“Its toxic tailings and the inevitable acid mine drainage associated with this operation will continue to pollute the seas,” Bacongis added. (more…)

http://newsinfo.inq7.net/inquirerheadlines/regions/view_article.php?article_id=9489
http://www.malaya.com.ph/jul13/envi1.htm
http://www.manilatimes.net/national/2006/july/13/yehey/prov/20060713pro5.html
07/13/2006

THE Department of Environment and Natural Resources has suspended all quarrying and other mining-related operations in the Biak-na-Bato National Park in San Miguel, Bulacan.
Environment Secretary Angelo Reyes yesterday announced in a press conference that the agency is suspending the operations of Rosemoor Mining and Development Corp., which holds a Mineral Production Sharing Agreement (MPSA) in the premises of the Biak-na-Bato Mineral Reservation.

“The DENR has decided to suspend the mining/quarrying operations of Rosemoor until such time that the environment, social, safety and health measures are put in place, operating agreements are registered and approved and all proper taxes, fees and royalties are fully paid,” said Reyes. (more…)