Philex a ‘benchmark’ for gov’t review on miners

March 10, 2018 Community Billboard

TUBA, BENGUET – Having passed with flying colors a previous technical audit done by government on its operations, Philex Mining Corp. is now the “benchmark” for an “objective, fact-finding, and science-based process” of review to be conducted by an interagency tasked to recommend policies to improve the mining sector.
“It’s not going back to the review, but moving forward,” Gabriel Pamintuan, a consultant for the Development Academy of the Philippines (DAP), said during a visit at Padcal mine, Philex Mining’s gold-and-copper operations in the Benguet towns of Tuba and Itogon.
He expressed this clarification on Sunday, March 4, as part of a five-man team from DAP—a state-run economic development agency tasked by the Mining Industry Coordinating Council (MICC) to review this year the performance of operating mines—that visited the Padcal mine camp, and to dispel any idea that there is a technical re-audit to be done.
“The review is intended to be an objective, fact-finding, and science-based process to identify interventions that would effectively address existing mining issues and concerns, and to recommend policy measures that will further improve the management and regulation to ensure the development of a more sustainable and responsible mining sector,” Winnie Manzo, project manager at DAP, said in a letter, dated Feb. 19, to Philex Mining AVP and Padcal Asst. Manager Roy Mangali. “The review shall cover the performance [of] mining companies in the technical, legal, social, environment, and economic aspects.”
Manzo, who was with the five-man team, added in her letter, “Philex Mining is not one of the mining companies to be reviewed in this initial batch. However, we would like to visit your mining site as a benchmark for us.”
“We are sitting on riches—here, for example, but outside, many are living in poverty,” said the team leader, Trygve Bolante, who is vice president at DAP, during an exit conference held at the Philex Guest House, in Tuba’s Sitio Padcal, Brgy. Camp 3, following a tour of the Padcal mine camp. “They must know that there are responsible miners. This is setting the benchmark.”
This was echoed by Pamintuan, saying that Philex Mining must conduct a massive information campaign on how it has been carrying out its operations responsibly and conscientiously by helping communities build roads, provide livelihood, and protect the environment; as well as implement other social projects like scholarship grants and free health-care services to its stakeholders, particularly those in the host and neighboring villages.
Eduardo Aratas, manager of the Legal Division at Padcal mine, said in an interview that Philex Mining has ably handled a media and public campaign on the company’s gold-and-copper operations through the Padcal Padcal Mine locally and the Philex Headquarters in Manila, which disseminate press and/or photo releases regularly, as well as via the various company sponsorships of a number of local, regional, and national forums and seminars related to the mining sector.
The MICC-DAP delegation was also informed that Philex Mining has been working toward obtaining a higher International Organization for Standardization—ISO 26000, which covers Social Responsibility Guidance Standard. The company is already certified for Integrated Management System (IMS), owing to its successful programs on environmental protection and work safety. It was granted this recognition by TÜV Rheinland, a Germany-based technical services provider, on Apr. 22, 2015. The IMS Certification covers Philex Mining’s environmental management system and safety management, which includes operations in mining, milling, and tailings storage facilities. PR / ABN