New Team, Rapu Rapu Test RunThis Is Dated June 12th 2006 From the Manila Bulletin Online
New team formed to decide on Rapu Rapu test run
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By MELODY M. AGUIBA
The Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) has appointed another team of volunteer experts to help validate its recommendation on whether to allow a test run of Rapu Rapu’s copper-zinc mine.
DENR Undersecretary for Mining Demetrio Ignacio said government has sought the advice of seven specialists to underpin its proposal on Lafayette Philippines Inc.’s (LPI) remediation measures and request for test run.
The volunteers include Department of Science and Technology Undersecretary Graciano P. Yumul, Dr. Carlo Primo David of the University of the Philippines-National Institute of Geological Sciences, and Geotechnica Corp. President Arthur SaldivarSali.
DENR Secretary Angelo T. Reyes earlier asked for the comments of a panel on the findings of Rapu Rapu Commission led by Sorsogon Bishop Arturo Bastes. The panel also includes Dr. Myrna Rodriguez, University of the Philippines-Los Baños Institute of Chemistry (UPLB-IC); Emilio M. Morales, Association of Structural Engineers of the Philippines fellow; Dr. Carlito R. Barril, UPLB-IC senior scientist and Dr. Aloysius Baes, Center for Environmental Concerns managing director.
"We are validating whether the company’s lapses can be remediated, whether there are or there aren’t solutions. The secretary has been very diligent in reading each report so that DENR will have an informed decision. He likes it to be responsible so that the decision will be responsive," said Ignacio in an interview.
AS LPI ceases its goldsilver mining and turns to copper-zinc production, DENR is checking LPI’s claim that the use of pollutant, toxic chemical cyanide, will be heavily cut. Copper-zinc production will require just flotation to separate the metal from the ore while LPI will only use 25 percent of its cyanide use for gold in the separation of copper and zinc.
Juancho Pablo S. Calvez, metallurgical technology chief of DENR’s Mines and Geosciences Bureau, said LPI will require lesser cyanide for its detoxification (eliminating toxic chemicals from tailings so that water discharge complies with standards) for copper-zinc.
He said LPI’s zinc tails which will have a maximum of 12 parts per million (PPM) cyanide content before discharge could cut cyanide down to DENR’s effluent standards of 0.1 parts per million (PPM) using a reagent called sodium metabisulfite (SMBS).
The team may also look into solving acid mine drainage (AMD) problems in the area even as David said earlier that it is not impossible to treat AMD (amid anti-mining claims) despite the terrain in Rapu Rapu.
On the Bastes Commission’s comment that LPI affiliate Rapu Rapu Processing Inc. (RRPI) unduly obtained exemption on excise tax payment, Ignacio said it will likely be the Bureau of Internal Revenue that will decide on the exemption’s validity.
The decision to grant LPI a test run still hinges on the conditions earlier set by the Mine Rehabilitation Fund Committee (MRFC), Ignacio said, which includes making sure that heavy rain water should be re-channeled through a spillway so that overflow from the dam will be avoided.
"When the incident happened, there was no spillway that’s why they dug a pond," he said.
Among the MRFC’s initial conditions are prevention of backflow of tailings, regular pumping of slurry and its maintenance at a minimum level in the pond, a proper rechanneling of storm water from the mill so that the rain water will not go to the active waterways, emergency measures to prevent contamination of marine life, emergency warning and alert system for the local residents, and total systems review.
After the Oct. 31 spill that caused cyanide level to go beyond DENR standards, the committee imposed on LPI more conditions.
These are geotechnical evaluation report on dam integrity, maintenance of cyanide level at discharge points within DENR standards, raising of dam wall by another 10 meters so that dam capacity is enough for a two-meter freeboard to accommodate tailings, repair of creeks in the area, and modification of detoxification process.