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No stranger to mine spills, Philex still wants rehab of aging tailings pond
Last in a 3-part series
Described as the biggest mining disaster in the country, the Padcal mine spill of Philex Mining Corp. in August last year is not the first time the company has faced such problems in the same mine site and in another project. In January 1992, part of the Padcal mine’s Tailings Pond No. 2 in Itogon, Benguet collapsed and spilled about five million metric tons of tailings across 5,000 hectares of land along Agno River downstream, according to the Mines and Geosciences Bureau (MGB). The leakage was blamed on the weakened dam structure after the 1990 earthquake that devastated many parts of Baguio City and Benguet, according to the MGB’s “Sustainable Development in the Philippine Mineral Industry: A Baseline Study.” Philex started operating its Padcal mine in 1958. During the 1992 mine spill, MGB Director Leo Jasareno said Philex was forced to compensate affected farmers. In 1995, Philex Mining incurred another leak, this time in its Bulawan Project in Sipalay City, Negros Occidental. The decant tower – which drains excess liquids from the tailings pond to nearby water channels – of Bulawan’s Tailings Pond No. 1 leaked due to pressure from impounded sediments, the MGB study noted. Last year's devastating spill from the Padcal mine’s Tailings Pond No. 3, which replaced the one that leaked 20 years ago, unleashed some 20.6 million metric tons or about one-eighth of the dam’s impounded sediments, the MGB said. This is the most destructive of the three mine spills that Philex has suffered so far. Damage to environment still undisclosed Last December 19, Philex reported that it was halfway done in cleaning Balog Creek, the main waterway affected by the Padcal spill, but until now, the environmental damage from the mine wastes has not been disclosed to the public. MGB’s Jasareno had informed GMA News Online in November that the government would release conclusive findings from its environment and social impact assessment regarding the incident in December, but the report has been delayed for unexplained reasons. In the MGB initial investigation report last Sept. 26, figures provided by Philex show that levels of heavy metals such as lead, mercury, cadmium, and chromium in the waterways spiked after the mine waste spill. 
Not enough lab tests on fish Fish is the main source of protein for the residents of Sitio Pangbasan – the community directly affected by the tailings spill – and when Philex reported the leakage, the Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources (BFAR) immediately imposed a fishing ban in San Roque Dam, one of the fishing grounds of the villagers. The bureau tested tilapia – a staple food for residents – as well as carp for heavy metal accumulation. In less than a month, BFAR partially lifted the fishing ban after declaring the two species safe for human consumption, even though it failed to include the 221-kilometer Agno River, the primary fishing ground of affected families, in the inspection due to lack of personnel. In an interview with GMA News Online, BFAR Region 1 director Nestor Domenden revealed that the agency has only two part-time personnel assigned to San Roque Dam who can catch fish for heavy metal accumulation testing. “’Yung Agno River hindi mabantayan kasi there are not enough people,” Domenden said. “We are appealing to the LGUs [local government units] that cover the river to help in the collection of samples para ma-subject for laboratory analysis. We can facilitate the analysis nung samples.” In an interview, water safety analyst Dr. Pag-asa Gaspillo warned that heavy metal accumulation in fish could be transferred to humans through food intake. “It can be confirmed na at the height of the spillout, talagang mataas ang concentration kaya lang nakatulong ang pag-ulan-ulan to dilute and to wash out [the heavy metals],” said Gaspillo, the former Engineering Dean of De La Salle University. “‘Yun nga lang talagang may increase ka of sediments,” she said. “May mga impacts ito sa human health but usually through bio-accumulation ‘yan,” the chemical engineer said, adding that it would take years to measure this effect. Impact on San Roque Dam From the Padcal tailings pond, the leaked mine wastes spread from Balog Creek and onwards to the Agno River and San Roque Dam. 
In a phone interview, National Power Corporation’s principal hydrologist Virgilio Garcia said San Roque Dam’s 850-million cubic meter capacity could easily accommodate the 13 million cubic meter tailings discharge of Philex. However, he noted that the tailings may affect the turbines that fire up the power generators, which supply up to 411 megawatts to the Luzon grid. “Sa ngayon parang wala pang problema, pero tinitignan kung nagkaroon ng abrasion o gasgas sa turbines,” Garcia said. He added that any problems in the turbine powerhouse would only be ascertained by summer this year, during the dam’s preventive maintenance check, to avoid disruptions in the dam's operations. Garcia said the management of the San Roque Multipurpose Project has written Philex, informing the company that any damage to the dam from the mine spill would be billed to the gold and copper mining firm. Last October, an environmental investigative mission conducted by various church and environmental groups reported that farm workers from San Nicolas and San Felipe in Pangasinan whose rice fields are irrigated through the dam made an alarming observation. “In the first week of August 2012 after the TP3 collapse, a whitish substance from the river that irrigates the rice fields was observed,” the environmental mission report read. Farmers observed a decrease in yield – up to 12 cavans, according to one of the residents interviewed. “Before the harvest, one farmer observed spots (batik-batik) in his rice crops, and later, rice plants turned yellow, which was not normal,” the report added. But Napocor’s Garcia has assured some 28,000 farming families in Pangasinan dependent on San Roque Dam that there was no contamination as the irrigation gates were closed when the dam released water during the Philex mine spill in early August. 
Weak monitoring of tailings dam The Padcal mine's 90-hectare Tailings Pond No. 3 or TP3, considered the largest in the country, should have been decommissioned as early as 2010, claimed Engineer Virgilio Aniceto, speaking for the Katribu Partylist in Northern Luzon. He said that according to the DENR, the tailings dam - which was commissioned in 1992 -- only has an 18- to 20-year life span. The dam’s crest had also gone beyond the permitted elevation of 600 meters above sea level, he added. However, Jasareno said TP3 had been rehabilitated even before the mine spill last August due to the extension of the Padcal mine’s operations until 2017. “Covered naman ‘yun ng ECC (Environmental Clearance Certificate). Ibig sabihin niyan, inaprubahan naman ng DENR ‘yung pag-extend ng life ng tailings pond,” he said. After the mine spill last August, Philex announced plans to build a new tailings dam, but Padcal spokesperson Eduardo Aratas said the damaged tailings pond would still be used after it is rehabilitated further and the government lifts the suspension order on the company. “Sa aming plan, the most na pinakamaganda pa rin is TP3,” Aratas said. “TP3 will be a crucial one because that will give us leeway to look for other areas. Kasi to construct a new one will entail so much time, [and] money, of course.” The company's decision is a crucial one for residents around the mine, considering that the aging TP3 has already suffered a major collapse and Padcal's operations have been extended further until 2020, following the suspension since August. “Hanggang 2020 kasi ang mina, dapat ay hanggang 2020 din [ang tailings pond]… Hindi naman tayo papayag na mag-operate ang isang mina na walang kaakibat na tailings pond. Sabay dapat pareho ang existence nila,” MGB director Jasareno said. In its investigation report, the MGB stressed that one of the weaknesses of Philex is lack of monitoring of the tailings dam.
