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Carmen Copper Corp. in Toledo City can now use a tailings containment facility after the Mines and Geosciences Bureau (MGB) lifted the cease and desist order against the facility.
The company spent P9 million for the construction of the concrete plug for the Sigpit-Biga Drain Tunnel, which is required to handle the pressure of the large volume of mine tailing materials dumped by Carmen Copper Corp., a subsidiary of Atlas Mining Corporation.
The Sigpit-Biga Drain Tunnel was used in the 1960s to drain accumulated water in the Biga Open Pit mining operations.
The drain tunnel has to be closed so that the Biga Pit could be used as mine tailings containment facility. The CDO dated May 29 for the use of the facility was issued after it was found out that the structure was not structurally sound.
The order was lifted last July 29 after the structure was inspected again and found to have met engineering and geotechnical requirements.
An estimated total volume of tailings of 252,000,000 tons will be dumped in the area within the period of 12 to 15 years.
?The DENR-MGB recognizes that disposal and management of tailings is an area of great importance for both existing and planned mining operations,? said MGB regional director Roger de Dios.
?Proper tailings management therefore, requires combination of laws, rules and regulations anchored on the use of appropriate engineering technologies and comprehensive industry management guidelines,? he added.
The concrete plug was inaugurated last Saturday, Aug. 1 with De Dios together and some officials of the mining company.
Current mining operations generate a volume of tailings that requires containment in large tailings dams as engineered structure,? said de Dios.
?Defined responsibilities, knowledge of environmental conditions, close supervision of the containment facility construction, careful operational surveillance and post-mining monitoring are keys to effective management of tailings,? he added. /Editorial Assistant Ma. Bernadette A. Parco
