Mindanao - Davao Region || XI OCD to bar miners’ families living near mining sites
OCD to bar miners’ families living near mining sites
Saturday, 28 January 2012 00:00
DAVAO City--The Office of Civil Defense (OCD) of Davao has recommended barring families of small-scale miners from living in high risk mining sites to prevent more losses of lives during Landslides. Antonio Cloma, administrative officer of OCD-Davao issued the statement following a dialogue with barangay officials, leaders of small-scale miners and members of the Independent Commission investigating the latest Landslide which claimed 42 lives in Diat Uno and Diat Dos, Barangay Napnapan, Pantukan, Compostela Valley. He said only miners will be allowed in the mining sites if they insist to continue their operations.
"No one must live there except for people who are actually involved in the mining operations," Cloma said. He also observed irregularity in the establishment of gold processing equipment in the mining sites like the use of large volume of water in processing ore. Cloma said given the patchy establishment of gold processing equipment in the mountains, this setup could have contributed to the loosening of the ground that of ten leads to Landslides, aside from natural causes like heavy downpour.
"As far as the OCD is concerned, gold processing must be relocated somewhere and not on the mining sites," he said. Cloma said the small-scale miners complained that relocating the ball mills will be very expensive for them and they suggested that the transfer will not be far from the mining sites. He maintained that since safety of miners and their dependents is the issue, they must cooperate with authorities in identifying possible sites for relocating the gold processing equipment. "These identified areas must be surveyed by the Mines and Geo-sciences Bureau (MGB) to determine the safety of the area, prior to the establishment of a processing zone," Cloma said. PNA
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