Mining in the 🇵🇭

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Written by
3 years ago

Mining in our country is not a simple endeavour. Even so, the Philippines is home to many producers and exploration companies. It is said that we are one of the richest country years back then.

Though it is reported that the Philippines holds the second world’s second-largest gold deposits, it was remained untouched. The welfare of the people is the most priority because most gold and other precious minerals are located in a place where indigenous people lived. It resulted in the limiting of mining activities.

The result of limiting mining activities are resulting in the Philippines to become one of the slow players in the gold world. However, we played an important role in gold production ranking 24th in 2018. Not bad.How much more if we don't limit the mining activities. But other factors why mining hasn’t yet taken a firm hold in the country are the following.

Poisoning:
Mining can toxify the waters when the mining companies try to extract minerals using toxic chemicals like cyanide, sulfuric acid, ammonium nitrate, fuel oil (ANFO) for blasting tunnels; uranium, lead and gasoline, diesel fuel, and exhaust fumes from vehicles and equipment and
acetylene for welding and thawing.

mining technology (image)

Extraction of the metal comes with concerns surrounding health, safety, environmental hazards and rights of indigenous people will be the most affected one and will suffer the consequences. If these waste and chemicals will reach the fresh waters, like rivers there will be no more living creature that survives in it. And people who get in contact or drink with the water mixed with a chemical by accident will have the possibility of being poisoned.

credits to environment.co.za

Land dispute:
Most of the location of rich mineral deposits are found to be in an area were owned by indigenous people. I can prove this myself because I am an Indigenous People (IP). People like us do not approve of mining in our territory. We have special rights where we can decline any unusual operations that are being proposed if it is against our will. Even it promised improvement but shows a hint of destruction, it always failed to gain our approval. We value our natural reserves, our farms, our rivers that has been satisfying and giving us pleasure and raw foods to us and our children. Our land that was been defended by our forefathers till the last drop of their blood. Our land is more valuable to us than heaps of gold. There are numbers of company agents that come and tried to lure us into something tempting. They even made a "mini dam" proposal a front just to make an excuse to try to excavate our mountain. A free electricity supply and other material benefits and money they promised but they never succeed.

Destruction of Natural Habitat

Mining in the Philippines is mostly underground mining which lets the rocks and wastes earth from underground and is brought to the surface in which become toxic when in contact with air and water. The mine will be left as it is that may cause a great threat because once the mine collapse, the land above it will sink.

credit from pixabay

Citizens are even unaware that below the ground they are standing is a tunnel that may collapse anytime. It also causes soil erosion and deforestation because timbers from surrounding trees are used to support the tunnels from collapsing.

Lowering of water tables is caused by these underground mining also. It also alters the flow of groundwater and streams.

credits from environment.co.za

Political Grip
The first two factors I mentioned above were both factors that mining laws are giving tight interest. Additional to this is the welfare of the breadwinners who rely on their source of income from mining companies. There are even mining sites that we're being shut down after the Philippine President remarked on closing down all mining sites because they caused damage to our environment, land and waters alike. Fortunately, it was reconsidered after finding the effect of unemployment of many labourers in the whole country.

Now mining was allowed as long as it won't cause harm to the environment. Numerous permits to operate are denied. Several raids in private mining sites followed because there are still others who continuously operates despite the warnings and denial of a license for operation because they don't meet the requirement to operate.

It's a relief to our part because it minimizes the threat of the destruction of our nature. What's with the title of being the 1st in gold producer on the entire planet if our mother nature is crying. Let it be known that Nature is a silent killer. It responds to cruelty and abuse one can't ever expect.

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3 years ago

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These are mostly caused by the small scale and illegal miners that don't sign contracts regarding the social responsibility clause and the area rehabilitation clause. The legal ones here such as nickelback asia whish is situated in palawan is one of the best examples of legal miners that mine the area and also try to maintain the community present in palawan by following through with their contracts

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3 years ago

That's right. In part of Baguio alone, there are numbers of small scale miners. Philippines armies confiscated lots of paraphernalia they used in their mining like dynamite and chemicals. They were proven to use cyanide, (CIP) and mercuries and other kinds of chemicals especially when the sample of golds are poor in SP in order to extract gold.

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3 years ago

The high refractiry ores are harder to purify than yhe usual gold ores though so i can see why they have that much chemicals. I heard some mines in baguio and pangasinan were closed too. I think this was because the previous administration just approved mining projects left and right because i remember by 2016 there were around 500+ small scale mines under the ninoy administration

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3 years ago

Right.... I just learned it from my husband and my nephew's story...

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3 years ago

I experienced a bit because i was studying geology before chemistry and i had fun going to mines

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3 years ago

I haven't experienced it. I only stood outside a tunnel when I was a child. I have a bad feeling about, especially the downward style of mine. looks like an unending well..Images inside I only saw in my dad's photos.

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3 years ago

Ohh you were in close mines. There are open type kinds of mines, we often went to those but the closed type need more caution because there are a lot of minor quakes or gas leaks in there so we only got to go in a few times. The actual ore deposits are cool though

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3 years ago

Yeah.. As hubby told me. It's the first time i heard about gas.Some men died cause of it.

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3 years ago

I'm curious, do they still use birds to tell if there's gas? I read somewhere that they used birds such as canaries to tell if that part of the mine has a gas leak or not

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3 years ago

I remember the news a couple of years ago. It's about mining sites, I think that is somewhere in Visayas who were closed because of it's effect to the environment.

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3 years ago

There are few people in here who lived and survived in the mining company. Let their children go to school and even became proffesionals. When the closure was announced. Wives went to Manila to protest. We can't blame them, they are already used to easy living just sitting in their bunk house and wait for their husbands salary. But when i visited their place few years back, you can't fish on their rivers. Eeeww.

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3 years ago

When I saw the title, I thought it was about crypto haha.

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User's avatar Yen
3 years ago

Me too mommy Yen! Kinain na ng crypto world 😂

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3 years ago

Nawalan sa isip ko yung talaga ng mining sa bundok

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User's avatar Yen
3 years ago

🤣🤣🤣 mining sa selpon na agad ang pumasok sa utak....

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3 years ago

🤣🤣🤣

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3 years ago

Naman! 🤦‍♀️🤣🤣🤣 Can't blame you. 😅

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3 years ago

I really thought it was about crypto mining, but this is also very nice. No matter how profitable mining is, it is also bad for the environment and risky for miners. There needs to be a lot of protocols in place.

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3 years ago

Same here haha

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3 years ago

Lol

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3 years ago

😁 Did i scam you then😅.? Anyway you're right. I'm glad we are taught to protect our land in here. I find our neighboring provinces suffered the result of this mining even it will be stopped. What's more sad is it was owned by foreigners. They got the most profit not us.

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3 years ago

No, you didn't scam me lol. But yeah, I understand your plight, foreign companies come to exploit our crude oil resources, and did not help the people. They poisoned their waters and killed their fish and people. A militant group had to mobilize to force the government to act by preventing any work from being carried out.

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3 years ago

There were Rebels in here who protects the civilians and burns the company vehicles or whatever useful to the company whenever they don't listen to the workers pleas like salary increase or other important matters. But this new era, they abused and used the people to gain money for their personal vendetta to the government.

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3 years ago

Sadly, the rebels become enemies of the people later. Power is a disease.

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3 years ago

I agree😔

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3 years ago

thank goodness we have leaders and elders who are firm on protecting our teritory., together with the youths, the loudest yet the keenest of voice were we able to guard our land.

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3 years ago

You said it right sis. Together we will continue protect our land for our next generation.

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3 years ago

I thought you were referring to crypto mining when I saw the title 😅

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3 years ago

Wahahaha... Good thing i didn't choose the image with bitcoin in it. 🤣🤣🤣

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3 years ago

Haha.. Kya ko inopen to kala ko bout crypto mining ph 🤣

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3 years ago

Waley. Scam ang crypto mining ng pinas🤣

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3 years ago

Haha sinabi mo pa

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3 years ago

😁😁😁

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3 years ago