THIS LAND IS MINED
In his third State of the Nation Address (SONA), President Rodrigo R. Duterte reiterated that environmental protection remains the government’s priority. He even warned the mining industry to stop destroying the environment.
“Stop destroying watersheds, the forest and water resources. You can no longer filth our rivers,” Duterte pointed out in his third SONA. “Expect reforms, radical ones. I do not intend to quarrel with anybody but for as long as I have said you will just have to contend with me. I expect you to do your part for national development starting now.”
Why so much ado about mining? Just to give you an idea, an average cellphone contains about 24 milligrams of gold, 250 milligrams of silver, 3,800 milligrams of cobalt, and 9 milligrams of palladium.
That’s just one product that comes from mining or mineral extraction. There are more: computers, television sets, radios, spectacles, cameras, cars, planes and ships. Most of the things you find in your kitchens are included: spoons, forks, plates, cups, knives, kettles, microwave ovens, burners, refrigerators and a lot more.
“If we didn’t have mining, I’d miss all the golden crucifixes and golden domes of churches that we ogle at, and the TV and radio broadcasts and commentaries that can be informative too,” wrote Jose BayaniBaylon in his column inPahayagang Malaya.
“Mining has been a driver of economic development,” said Manuel V. Pangilinan in a speech delivered during a mining forum held in 2012. “Mining in Australia contributes US$142 billion each year; in Canada, $37.5 billion; in the US, $1.9 trillion, and in Brazil, $24 billion.”
According to Pangilinan, “The challenge is precisely to grow mining so that it creates more value-added for all of us. Only a larger and healthier industry can enable us to achieve forward linkages in downstream processing plants.”
“The Philippines is among the world’s richly endowed countries in terms of mineral resources,” said Dr. Antonio M. Daño when he was still assistant director of the Ecosystems Research and Development Bureau (ERDB) of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR).
It has been stated that the country’s mineral wealth is estimated to be about $840 billion. “The real question before us today is: Should mining be allowed in the Philippines?” asked Christian Monsod during the “Conference on Mining’s Impact on Philippine Economy and Ecology.”
Mining: Legal Notes and Materials, published by the Legal Rights and Natural Resources Center, Inc. and KasamasaKalikasan, defines mining as “the process of extracting minerals from the earth.”
“In Mining Engineering practice, mining is usually taken to mean the extraction of ores, coal or stone from the earth,” the book explains. “Ores are mineral deposits that can be worked at a profit under existing economic conditions. Stone includes industrial (usually non-metallic) minerals such as calcite (limestone), quartz and other similar products.”
Mining can be undertaken from the surface or underground. “In surface mining, the rock-breakage-materials handling cycle is usually done first to remove (or strip) the overburden (expose the ore body), and then actual physical extraction,” the book says.
Surface mining can be done either through mechanical extraction or the use of aqueous methods, which makes use of hydraulic action or solution attack. “The most common methods of surface (mechanical extraction) mining are open-pit, quarrying, open-cast and auger mining,” the book states.
Underground mining, on the other hand, can be undertaken through various methods including room-and-pillar, stoping and caving. “Caving methods are particularly distinct in that ‘caving,’ or the collapse of the ore body or the overlying rock is actually induced and controlled during operations,” the book says.
Wikipedia defines stoping as “the process of extracting the desired ore or other mineral from an underground mine, leaving behind an open space known as a stope.” Stoping is used when the country rock is sufficiently strong not to collapse into the stope, although in most cases artificial support is also provided.
Among the most common mining method practiced in the Philippines is open-pit because of relatively low cost. “Open-pit mining entails the removal of any overburden in order to expose the mineral deposit,” the book says. “This operation is dependent on the type of overburden. In cases where the overburden consists of highly consolidated rock, blasting is used.”
Open-pit mining may cheaper when compared to other methods, but it is not environmentally-sound. “Open-pit mining clears the vegetation covering the deposits, exposing the soil and permanently changing the landscape and land use,” Dr. Daño reminded.
In his recent SONA speech, Duterte urged: “Do not destroy the environment or compromise our resources. Repair what you have mismanaged. Try to change management radically because this time, you will have restrictive policies—a prohibition of open-pit mining is one.”
In the Philippines, mining operations are oftentimes located in ancestral land, forest land, agricultural land and even fishing areas. “All areas of the Philippines are technically ‘available’ for mining,” said Dave de Vera, executive director of the Philippines Association for Intercultural Development.
Primo Morillo of social development network Philippine Miserior Partnership was quoted as saying by the Rappler that whatever benefits mining provides is only temporary. “They say the resources are finite so when they are gone, they will leave. Whatever development will happen is temporary but the effect of mining is permanent.”
