Thu Jul 27, 2006

By Dolly Aglay, Reuters -
http://ca.today.reuters.com/news/newsArticle.aspx?type=domesticNews&storyID=uri:2006-07-27T115353Z_01_MAN291419_RTRIDST_0_CANADA-MINERALS-PHILIPPINES-TVI-COL.XML&pageNumber=1&summit=

MANILA - A unit of Canadian firm TVI Pacific Inc. said on Thursday it had asked Manila to intervene in a row between small scale miners and tribespeople in its mining area amid fears the dispute could hit its operations.

Officials at TVI Resource Development Philippines Inc., which plans to invest $23 million for a copper and zinc plant at its southern Philippine mine, said they fear anti-mining groups will use the conflict to further blot the industry’s image.

Cyanide spills last year at a plant run by a unit of Australia’s Lafayette Mining brought down the wrath of influential Catholic bishops and set back government efforts to revive the country’s once-mighty mining sector.

The Canatuan mine is one of 24 priority projects identified by the government needing foreign investments of $6.5 billion.

TVI officials said they had asked the National Commission on Indigenous Peoples and the Commission on Human Rights to probe the removal by Subanon tribesmen of a shanty owned by a small-scale miner, which was obstructing TVI’s operations.

TVI pays royalties to the Subanon tribe for mining in their ancestral domain and the company had been in talks with the owners of the shanty about demolishing it.

“We are afraid that this may be blown out of proportion,” TVI President Eugene Mateo told a news conference. “The demolition of the shanty was done by the IP (indigenous peoples)
not by TVI,” he added.

The government says the Philippines has $1 trillion worth of untapped mineral wealth but conflicts over land ownership, particularly in the resourch-rich south, are a major headache for prospective investors.

SHANTY IN MIDDLE OF MINE

Members of the Subanon tribe dismantled the settlement last month after a two-and-a-half year negotiation with TVI fell through, Pablo Bernardo, lawyer of the Subanon group, and TVI officials said.

TVI General Manager Yulo Perez said the owners’ refusal to leave their shanty, which is located in the middle of the 508-hectare Canatuan mine, affected their operations.

The company said the owners were demanding 1.5 million pesos ($29,100) for it compared to an assessed value of 13,000 pesos.

An alliance of non-government groups asking for a moratorium on large scale mining in the Philippines has already called on the government to investigate the alleged forced relocation of Canatuan villagers, who did not approve of TVI’s operations.

The alliance said the belongings of the shanty’s owners, an elderly couple, were looted and villagers who aided the pair were hurt by mine security guards.

TVI has denied the allegations and has said that 10 people, including several guards, sustained minor injuries when the couple used blades and wooden clubs to stop the dismantling.

Despite the row, TVI said it hoped to launch its copper and zinc plant, which will have a capacity of 1,300 dry metric tons of ore per day, in the second quarter of next year.

TVI Resource began mining gold and silver at its Canatuan mine in southern Philippines in May 2004.

Perez said his firm, which produces 170 ounces per day of gold equivalent, said TVI Resource’s projected revenues of 1.7 billion pesos this year could double next year with the expected operation of its copper and zinc processing plant.