DAVAO CITY—Canadian-mining firm TVI Resources Development Philippines (TVIRD) said its Canatuan mine site in Siocon, Zamboanga del Norte would be running out of ore by end of 2013.
But the development of new mine sites in the said town was being hampered by a new mining policy the government has issued, the company said.
In a statement posted on its website Tuesday, TVIRD said company geologists had estimated that the ore content of Canatuan mine site would have been depleted before 2014 comes in.
TVIRD has been constantly shipping out zinc and copper concentrates from its Canatuan mine site since its actual operation started a few years back.
In March it sent out 3,872 dry metric tons of zinc concentrate – which contained 49.55 percent zinc— and 6,033 dry metric tons of copper concentrate containing 18.09 percent copper.
Rhonda Bennetto, TVIRD vice president for investors & corporate relations, had earlier said the current production level was steady, with copper concentrate grade levels of between 18 and 20 percent and zinc concentrate grade levels of between 48 and 52 percent.
But in its latest news release this month, TVIRD said the life of the Canatuan mine would end roughly at the end of 2013.
The company said it has started development of a new area, particularly in the Malusok area.
However, the mining company said “the area’s development is now seriously threatened by the government’s ban on the issuance of new mining permits.”
“There is another potential ore body “next door” that could possibly extend the life of the mine (and its benefits) by up to several years – but the ban is preventing the company from pursuing it in time,” TVIRD said.
TVIRD said activities in the Malusok mine site, which is part of the recognized 8,000-hectare ancestral domain of the Subanens, is still on exploration stage but it was discontinued because of the moratorium.
Zenaida Dandana, a Canatuan-based Subanen elder who openly supports the company, had backed TVIRD’s proposed exploration of the Malusok area, the company said.
Dandana, TVIRD said, had warned the depletion of ore at the Canatuan mine site also threatens the stability of the economic condition of the Subanens.
“TVIRD has been a great help to us. They provided us with employment, schools, roads, livelihood, electricity, water system, health care, sent our children to college, and many more. But with the end of the mine’s life by 2013, this will also mean the end of much progress for us,” she was quoted in the TVIRD statement as saying.
But the Zamboanga del Norte Social Action Center said contrary to rosy statements by TVIRD and its supporters, life among Subanens has not been easy since the company started in Siocon in 2000.
Many people – especially the Subanen natives—have experienced harassment and displacements, including loss of livelihood and farmlands, due to TVIRD’s activities, the SAC earlier said.