By Estanislao Albano, Jr.
Note: Contained in the space is the column of Rolando Dy in the March 27, 2017 Philippine Daily Inquirer titled “Would banning mining jeopardize our quality of life?” and my response to it which unfortunately again was snubbed by the editors.
Would banning mining jeopardize our quality of life?
Anti-mining groups proliferate these days. They want to ban mining because it is anti-environment. Do they really mean what they say?
Minerals and metals have been part of our way of life for thousands of years. Unless we go back to the Stone Age. Recall the Iron, Copper and Bronze Ages. Disclosure: I studied geology, mining and metallurgy courses at UP Diliman.
Homes
Let’s start with our homes. The refrigerator is made of steel. Stainless steel is made from iron, nickel and chromium. The tin cans for canned goods are made from tin and steel. The aluminum cans came from mined alumina. The glass we use is from silica sands.
And the house we live in is made from cement from limestone, steel bars and nails. And how will electrical appliances, like TV and air-conditioners, work without copper wires?
Transport
What are cars, ships, railways and planes made of? Cars cannot run without steel body, copper wirings, and batteries. Ship hulls are made of iron and steel. Add to that the cast-iron engines. Most airplanes are made out of aluminum, a lightweight metal. The Ford Tri-Motor, the first passenger plane from 1928, was made out of aluminum.
Infrastructure
The most extensively used material in transmission line is aluminum. Glass optical fibers are made from silica. An optical fiber is a single, hair-fine filament drawn from molten silica glass. These fibers are replacing metal wire as the transmission medium in high-speed, high-capacity communications systems.
Power
Some 32 countries use nuclear energy that uses uranium. Thirteen countries rely on nuclear energy for at least 30 percent of power generation.
What happens if coal mining is stopped now? Many power plants will cease operation. Power costs will rise. The Philippine economic growth will definitely slow down.
Jewelry
Diamonds are mined in Botswana, Russia and South Africa. Gold from many countries, including China, Australia, and Russia. Silver from Mexico, Peru, China and Chile. Emeralds and rubies are mined, too. Catholic churches use silver chalices.
We cannot do away with minerals and metals. Economics is important. But our way of life is at stake if mining is banned. In any case, mining comprised only 0.8 percent of gross domestic product (GDP) or P112 billion in 2016. Contrary to claims, it is not small. Palay had P289 billion of GDP, coconut, P93 billion and corn, P73 billion. Moreover, the beverage industry contributed P127 billion, clothing and apparel P70 billion, and transport equipment, P48 billion (Source: Philippine Statistics Authority).
Where do we go from here?
Mining per se is not bad. Best practices in mining can be learned from Canada, Australia and other places.
Mining companies must behave according to rules. The Australian Center of Sustainable Mining Practices (ACSMP) notes that sustainable mining practices embed the principles of sustainable development into a mining and minerals context.
“At its core is the belief that through the responsible development of the world’s mineral resources, the global population will be able to access the mineral resources they demand for both a higher standard of living and better access to energy. It is an important tool in alleviating poverty. Companies that exhibit sustainable mining practices demonstrate the five pillars: Leading environmental practices, community engagement and support, economic development, safety excellence and optimum resource utilization.” (ACSMP).
Have I visited mines? Yes. I visited Philex Mines in Benguet, Semirara Mine in Caluya, Antique, and TVI Mining in Siocon, Zamboanga del Norte. They are responsible miners.
Am I pro-mining? You bet. And pro-development.
My reply:
The farfetched scenario that all mining activities in the entire world would ground to a halt all at once turning back civilization by thousands of years due to the resultant absence of metals is one of the bogeys being used by mining advocates in the never ending mining debate made more intense by the appointment of environmentalist Gina Lopez as Environment Secretary. Local pioneers of the non-argument like Rolando Dy (“Would banning mining jeopardize our quality of life?” Business/3/27/ 2017) mentions Stone Age as our fate the moment the event takes place.
I strongly suspect that since the threat of a national ban on mining cannot raise the specter of immediate reversion to the Stone Age for us Filipinos considering that goods including those made of metals move across borders, mining diehards are improvising by arguing as though a global mining freeze is imminent. They make it up in the hope that the unwary would be scared into becoming less hostile to mining. There is no factual basis for the scenario. When I googled, all I saw are these links about some green groups demanding that there be a ban on mining in heritage sites and also bans on mining of coal and asbestos but not a blanket ban that would end metal traffic on a global scale.
I have news for Dy and company. Last week of March, through an act of its legislature, El Salvador banned metal mining becoming the first country in the world to do so. This destroys the myth Dy and fellow mining eager beavers are trying to sell because the shutdown is by nation which makes this Stone Age scare baseless. With business as usual in the remaining mining countries, there will be enough metal to go around. After all there are a lot of countries which enjoy all the blessings of mining which never contributed a single ounce of ore since their beginnings.
What’s hilarious is while Dy tries to scare us with a world totally bereft of metals, he implicitly proclaimed there is responsible mining in “Canada, Australia and other places.” If there is valid basis for his indorsement of mining in those countries, then a global mining ban is very remote in the foreseeable future. Why at all would Canadians and Australians and those living in the other places he did not identify be convinced to join the movement for a global stoppage of mining if and when such will be launched when the mining companies in their countries are behaving?
Regarding the local situation, Dy wrote he visited Philex Mines in Benguet, Semirara Mine in Caluya, Antique, and TVI Mining in Siocon, Zamboanga del Norte and found all three to be “responsible miners.” I withhold comment on the last two mines pending further research but on the case of Philex Mines, I suggest to Dy to do some reading on the mines he plans to visit before making the trip or opening his trap later.
Apart from the tailings dam breach in August 2012 which has earned for Philex the distinction of being the site of the worst mining disaster in the country — move over, Marcopper —, the company has been involved in at least four other such incidents since 1982 in its various mines (http://www.kalikasan.net/press-release/2012/11/28/walk-talk-punishment-philex-mine-disaster-denr-told) including the collapse of its Pacdal mine Tailings Pond 2 which dumped 80,000 M metric tailings into the environment in 1992.
The verdict of Dy who took care to mention at the start of his article that he studied geology, mining and metallurgy courses at University of the Philippines-Diliman collides with the assessments of authorities. In his article “Tailings Facility Failures in 2012,” (http://www.infomine.com/library/publications/docs/Caldwell2013e.pdf), Jack Caldwell, an engineer and international expert and writer on “all aspects of tailings and mine waste facility design, construction, operation, and closure,” concluded that all three recorded tailings dam failures in 2012 which includes the Philex Mines incident were not caused by force majeure. In the specific case of Philex Mines, Caldwell point to the failure of the penstock as the culprit.
In the article “Look Back: The 1996 Marcopper mining disaster” written by Gwen dela Cruz and published by Rappler on March 24, 2017, Antonio Gabriel La Vina, lawyer, environmental policy expert, present dean of the Ateneo School of Governance and, as DENR undersecretary, had led the investigation that found Marcopper officials guilty of criminal negligence for the 1996 mining disaster, had declared that “Mining sites are supposed to be earthquake and flood-proof.” The Philex 1992 incident happened allegedly because the 1990 earthquake weakened the foundations of the tailings dam and the breach in 2012 allegedly occurred due to the unprecedented amount of rainfall experienced in the area at that time.
In the same manner as there are irresponsible miners, there are also irresponsible writers.**
