PRESIDENT AQUINO’S EO 79 AFTERMATH: Xstrata Philippine mine project ‘may go to court’ - AFP News
The fate of Xstrata’s $5.9 billion
copper-gold project in the southern Philippines, which has been delayed
by a ban on open-pit mining, may be decided in court, a provincial
governor said Saturday.
Arthur Pingoy, governor of South
Cotabato province where the project is located, said his government
maintained its ban on open-pit mining which effectively bars the Swiss
giant’s project.
President Benigno Aquino recently issued
a mining order saying the national government overruled local
ordinances but Pingoy said his ban remained in effect until a court
ruled otherwise.
“Probably, this will be taken to the
proper court, so we will see if (the company) or the national government
will raise it,” he told AFP.
The Tampakan project of an Xstrata-led
joint venture on the troubled southern island of Mindanao has been
delayed for months by South Cotabato’s ban on open cast mining.
Pingoy said he was aware of the massive
economic benefits of the project but said people in his province were
still wary of its environmental impact.
He said both the natural resources and
local government ministers were due to meet with him soon and he
expected them to bring up the Xstrata project, which was originally due
to go into commercial operation in 2016.
Meanwhile, the head of the government
Mines and Geosciences Board Leo Jasareno expressed optimism that legal
action could be avoided and that South Cotabato officials could be
persuaded to lift the ban.
“There are many ways this can be
addressed. The national government can talk to the local government,
discuss the matter… it can be done through consultation, persuasion,” he
told AFP.
He said Aquino’s new order would provide a guide in settling the dispute.
Jasareno said the Aquino government
still considered the mining project, one of the biggest foreign
investments in the country’s history, to be a “priority”.
In a statement, Sagittarius Mines, Inc.,
the local subsidiary of the Xstrata-led joint venture, said it would
study Aquino’s new mining order to see how it relates to its mining
project.
“We are encouraged that the
implementation of this policy should assist in the resolution of the
South Cotabato Environment Code which bans open-pit mining in the
province contrary to national law,” the statement added.
More stories
No comments:
Post a Comment