Decision on Philex fine out this week

MANILA, Philippines - The Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) is expected to render within the week its final decision on the P1-billion fine it is imposing on listed mining firm Philex Mining Corp. for the tailings spill in its copper-gold mine in Padcal, Benguet in August.

Philex has been contesting the imposition of the fine, saying the incident was caused by force majeur.

Based on the recommendations of the Mines and Geosciences Bureau (MGB), Environment Secretary Ramon Paje will determine if the company’s claim has merit.

In September, the Mines and Geosciences Bureau (MGB) imposed on the company a fine of P1.034 billion for violation of the Mining Act of 1995.

According to the findings of the multi-disciplinary team created to determine the amount of the fines to be imposed in connection to the incident, the total volume of discharged sediment to the Balog River has reached 13, 513, 507 cubic meters as of Sept. 6.

With the sediments having a bulk density of 1.531 metric tons of solids per cubic meter, the total weight of discharged solids is 20,689,179.42 metric tons.

Under the Mining Act of 1995, a penalty of P50 per metric ton of tailings “discharged into areas other than the approved tailings disposal area” is imposed.

“As such, the tailings fee of P1,034, 358, 971 has been computed to be payable by PMC, based on the 20,689,179.42 metric tons of discharged solids to Balog River,” MGB  said in a letter to the company informing them of the fines.

It was also discovered that PMC undertakes a maintenance check of its broken tailings pond no. 3 only once a year. The MGB, therefore recommended that monitoring of the tailings ponds be undertaken more frequently.

The P1-billion fine excludes the fine of between P50,000 and P200,000  for violation of the Clean Water Act which would be imposed on a per day basis until the pollution is cleared from the waterways affected  by the discharge. The Pollution Adjudication Board (PAB) continues to deliberate on the total amount of fines to be imposed on the firm.

A fine of P50,000 was also imposed on the company by the Environmental Management Bureau (EMB) for violation of a provision of its Environmental Compliance Certificate (EC) which states that all mining wastes should be 100 percent contained.

So far, no damage to agriculture and aquatic resources have been reported within the environs of the mine.

The company is currently building a spillway for its broken tailings pond no. 3 to enable the mine to resume operations by the middle part of the year.

The spillway, which is expected to be completed by the first quarter of 2013, would enable tailings pond no. 3 to function for three more years, enabling the company to resume operations while a new tailings pond is being built.

Philex officials said that cleanup efforts continue to be conducted amid other developments in the mine.

The company, however, has yet to submit a final cleanup plan to the government.

In an interview over the weekend, MGB director Leo Jasareno said the company is expected to submit its final cleanup plan for the Padcal mine on Nov. 22, after being granted an extension. “If we find the cleanup plan satisfactory, we will ask Philex to implement it,” said Jasareno.