Open-pit mining ban should stay unless miners shape up

In his commentary, “Open-pit mining in context and by example” (1/15/18), Dindo Manhit, who is described as founder and managing director of advisory and research consultancy Stratbase Group, dismissed as propaganda the bases for Administrative Order No. 2017-10 which banned the open-pit mining method in the country claiming that, on the contrary, the mining method is “accepted worldwide as the efficient and safe method for harvesting mineral deposits near the surface.”

To prove his point, he rattled off statistics of open-pit mines in the United States, China, Australia, Thailand and Russia. He did not cite the source of his data.

I just want to ask Manhit if he also considers the following indictment of open-pit mining made by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) as propaganda from anti-mining advocates: “Open pit mining, where material is excavated from an open pit, is one of the most common forms of mining for strategic minerals. This type of mining is particularly damaging to the environment because strategic minerals are often only available in small concentrations, which increases the amount of ore needed to be mined.

“Environmental hazards are present during every step of the open-pit mining process. Hardrock mining exposes rock that has lain unexposed for geological eras. When crushed, these rocks expose radioactive elements, asbestos-like minerals, and metallic dust. During separation, residual rock slurries, which are mixtures of pulverized rock and liquid, are produced as tailings, toxic and radioactive elements from these liquids can leak into bedrock if not properly contained.”

And is Manhit pitting the Stratbase Group against the school which produced some 83 Nobel laureates in authority to render judgement on the acceptability and environmental impact of open-pit mining?

Manhit alleged there are a lot of examples of open-pit mines in other countries “which have been turned into other productive land uses” but goes on to name only six such mines. He also claimed that the country is not left behind in this endeavor to make former open-pit mines productive mentioning two such cases. Of course he did not give us the number of open-pit mines which prompted the issuance of AO 2017-10 and for President Duterte to sustain the ban but for sure they far outnumber the two, which according to Manhit, have been successfully rehabilitated. Actually his mention of the two mines does not help his cause because the meagre statistics only serves to underscore the fact that local miners are generally irresponsible. Why are majority of local open-pit mining companies not doing anything about the mess and disturbance they created or are creating? If the bases for the ban is propaganda, how come Manhit could not mention more samples of responsible open-pit mining operations in the country?

Given this knowledge of the irresponsibility of local miners when it comes to the environment, why at all should the country gamble by allowing them to get their dirty hands on the remaining resources when based on experience, it is more likely they will just abandon their pits when they have extracted what they want?

And that brings us to Manhit’s citation of his fellow Stratbase mining expert Dr. Carlo Arcilla in the last paragraph of his article: “We should note that mining, especially open-pit mining, is an ugly process: Trees have to be cut, mountains reshaped (flattening is not economical), a lot of dust raised, and so on. Although an active mining operation is not pretty, it is a temporary use for the land, and the mining cycle should only be judged afterward, if rehabilitation was done properly on disturbed areas. Mining is not complete until rehabilitation is finished.” That’s precisely the reason that the ban should stay indefinitely.

Why should we allow mining companies to wipe out the flora and disturb the natural contour of the earth and wait with bated breath what they will do with the alternation after the mining cycle is over when based on experience, we already know that majority of local open-pit miners have no intentions of properly restoring the area they mined? The more prudent position for the government and the public to take is to only allow the ban to be lifted when the mining sector has shown sufficient proof of its good faith and sincere resolve to do right by the environment. The only way the sector could do is to henceforth properly operate open-pit mines and more than that, rehabilitate all the desolate open-pit mines the current states of which have prompted the imposition of the ban. Then and only then could we reasonably repose trust on local miners that they will clean up their mess when they are through.

What Manhit and his fellow mining propagandists who masquerade as objective mining experts are urging—and the Mining Industry Coordinating Council is recommending to President Duterte—is stupid given the record of local miners in carrying out this mining method described by the MIT as “particularly damaging to the environment” to begin with.

ROMMEL MENDOZA, [email protected],