Lopez orders mining audit
By Louise Maureen Simeon (The Philippine
Star) | Updated July 12, 2016 - 12:00am
Newly-installed Environment Secretary
Gina Lopez yesterday issued her first memorandum order which covers the
extensive audit of all mines as well as the moratorium on new mining projects.
Facebook.com/Lopez.Regina
MANILA, Philippines - Newly-installed
Environment Secretary Gina Lopez yesterday issued her first memorandum order
which covers the extensive audit of all mines as well as the moratorium on new
mining projects.
Based on memorandum 2016-01, all
operating and suspended mines will be subject to an audit to determine the
adequacy and efficiency of the environmental protection measures, identify gaps
in protection measures and determine appropriate penalties in case of
violations.
The moratorium, on the other hand, shall
cover the acceptance, processing and approval of applications and projects for
all metallic and non-metallic minerals.
Mining firms were given one month to
comply with the order. Failure to do so will result in the suspension of
operations.
The new administration remains firm in
their stand to suspend mining firms that fail to secure international
certification on safety standards in a bid to put an end to irresponsible
mining in the Philippines.
The audit will be undertaken in
accordance with the Philippine Mining Act of 1995 and Department Administrative
Order 2015-07 on securing the International Organization for Standardization
(ISO) 14001 certification.
The deadline for securing the ISO
certification was originally set last April. Failure to secure or maintain the
ISO 14001 certification will lead to suspension of the environmental compliance
certificate and non-issuance of ore transport permit.
DAO 2015-07 “institutionalizes an
environmental management system that ensures the adherence of local mining
operations to international standards, particularly the ISO 14001
certification, as a measure of responsible mining in the country.
“ISO 14001 certification ensures that
appropriate measures are put in place to achieve minimal negative impacts of
mining on the environment.”
Just last week, the Chamber of Mines of
the Philippines (COMP) announced that most of its member companies are ISO-certified.
These include Benguet Corp., Lepanto
Consolidated Mining Co., Philex Mining, OceanaGold Phils., Rio Tuba Nickel
Mines, Filminera Resources, Carmen Copper, Greenstone Resources, Hinatuan
Mining, MarcVentures Mining & Dev. Corp., Taganito Mining, LNL Archipelago
Minerals, CTP Construction & Mining, Philsaga Mining and Platinum Group
Metals Corp.
Among those whose applications are still
pending are Berong Nickel Corp., Apex Mining Co. Minimax Mineral Explo and
Pacific Nickel Phils.
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1 Comments:
mining harms the Philippine environment but we need the money provided by these mining companies...what to do?
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