TVI Pacific unit clears ancestral land hurdleAugust 25, 2014
TVI Pacific unit clears ancestral land hurdle
TVI Resource Development Philippines, Inc. (TVIRD), a unit of Canada’s TVI Pacific, Inc., signed a memorandum of agreement (MoA) for sustainable development with ancestral land domain representatives in Zamboanga del Sur, helping pave the way for the certification of its Balabag mine operations.
Along with TVIRD President Eugene Mateo and board member Michael Regino, the MoA was signed on Aug. 19 by Lucenio Manda and Casiano Edal, both representing the Subanen tribe in Bayog.
The Mineral Production Sharing Agreement covers 4,779 hectares in Sitio Balabag.
The agreement is a prerequisite for certification by the National Committee on Indigenous People in order for the company to operate its Balabag gold and silver mine.
“We want the TVIRD-Subanen partnership to be a model for development -- a testament that securing the tribe’s free, prior and informed consent is a transparent process that can bring social and economic benefits,” Mr. Manda said.
According to the company’s Web site, TVIRD is currently waiting for the approval of the Declaration of Mining Project Feasibility by the Mines and Geoscience Bureau of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources for it to be able to operate fully.
TVIRD is the local affiliate of listed Canadian mining company TVI Pacific. -- Jon Viktor D. Cabuenas
Mine firm signs deal with indigenous people
Ronnel W. Domingo |Philippine Daily Inquire
TVI Resource Development Philippines Inc. (TVIRD) said it has entered into a memorandum of agreement with leaders of the indigenous Subanen people in Zamboanga del Sur related to the development of the Balabag gold-silver project.
TVIRD said in a statement that Subanen leaders Lucenio Manda and Casiano Edal signed on behalf of their people last Aug. 19 following two months of “exhaustive public consultation” supervised by the National Commission on Indigenous People.
The pact means that the Subanens of Bayog town have given their free, prior and informed consent or FPIC, a regulatory requirement for mining concerns, in relation to the company’s mineral production sharing agreement area covering 4,779 hectares in Sitio Balabag.
“Based on its success in Canatuan, we believe in TVIRD’s capability to implement development (in Bayog),” Manda said in a statement.
He was referring to the company’s flagship copper and zinc project in Siocon, Zamboanga del Norte, which came on stream in 2004. The Canatuan mine wrapped up operations earlier this year.
In October 2013, Canadian firm TVI Pacific said its local affiliate TVIRD had secured the environmental compliance certificate (ECC) for the proposed Balabag project.
“Receipt of the ECC confirms [that TVIRD] has satisfied the requirements of Presidential Decree No. 1586 and its issue comes upon recommendation of the Environmental Management Bureau,” the company said in a statement. PD 1586 established a system of environmental impact assessment for the mining industry.
The Calgary-based firm said results of drilling done in 2011 showed that the mineral resource in Balabag was estimated to be 1.78 million tons, with an average grade of 2.34 grams of gold and 72.3 grams of silver a to