A news story about the start of the controversial $5.9 billion Tampakan copper-gold project in 2026, specifically the portion on the lifting of the open-pit mining ban in South Cotabato, is partly true but misleading.
Published by Philstar.com on April 5, 2023, the article, titled “Tampakan mine operation seen to start by 2026,” reports on the plan of Sagittarius Mines, Inc. (SMI) to start mining operations three years from now. https://www.philstar.com/business/2023/04/05/2256897/tampakan-mine-operation-seen-start-2026?fbclid=IwAR0dVE2W0e0cgCjxKnTBfaL5sx1vVb8q66b9W1bcFoLljNDN0-qiuysRYwA
The Tampakan project is now ready to move onto the next stage of development to be able to start operating in two to three years, SMI president and CEO Roy Deveraturda told reporters (in Manila) in a roundtable discussion, the news outfit wrote.
The article stated that last year, the Sangguniang Panlalawigan of South Cotabato approved the amendment of the Environment Code of South Cotabato, particularly on the lifting of the open-pit mining ban.
This move will allow SMI to develop the area and commercially extract minerals, it added.
The provincial code hurdled the operations of the Tampakan project even after the national government lifted the ban on open pit mining in December 2021, the article said.
The portion on the lifting of the open-pit mining ban partly true but is misleading due to a vital missing information.
While the Sangguniang Panlalawigan lifted the controversial ban on open-pit mining in the province, it was, however, vetoed by South Cotabato Gov. Reynaldo Tamayo, Jr., which Philstar.com did not include in its report.
With Tamayo’s veto, the open-pit mining method is still banned in the province.
The ban on open-pit mining has been a thorn in the throat of the Tampakan project, Southeast Asia’s largest untapped copper-gold minefield.
According to an SMI study, the most viable method to extract the minerals is through open-pit mining due to their shallow location from the surface. The firm vows to employ “responsible mining operations.”
The lifting of the open-pit mining ban, imposed since 2010, is a hot social issue in South Cotabato, with the local Catholic Church leading the efforts for the prohibition to stay on concerns over the environment, human health and food security.
Pro- and anti- mining groups had held various rallies – at one point almost breathing at each other’s neck in front of the provincial capitol in Koronadal City on June 1, 2023, to air their positions.
To date, the open-pit mining ban in South Cotabato remains, after Tamayo vetoed the lifting of such measure by the previous set of Sangguniang Panlalawigan officials (June 30, 2019 to June 30, 2022).
In an August 2022 ruling but made known only last March, the Court of Appeals (CA) had ruled that the open-pit ban in South Cotabato is valid, but its application is limited to small-scale mining operations.
“Further, it is clarified that the ban on open-pit mining does not apply to large scale mining operations of the said province, particularly the Tampakan Project,” the ruling by the CA’s 23rd Division based in Cagayan de Oro stated. https://www.mindanews.com/top-stories/2023/03/ca-ruling-waters-down-southcots-open-pit-mining-ban-activists-vow-to-sustain-campaign/
In a meeting with Marbel Bishop Cerilo Casicas, Tamayo vowed to appeal the CA ruling, specifically on allowing large-scale mining projects to conduct open-pit mining operations in the province.
As with all our other reports, MindaNews welcomes leads or suggestions from the public to potential fact-check stories. (Bong S. Sarmiento / MindaNews)
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