Lumads up in arms vs. Australian mining firm

Davao Oriental mining firm wants Aussies out of nickel project

By ROGER M. BALANZA

A local mining firm in Davao Oriental wants to rescind its joint venture agreement with an Australian mining firm it accused of moving slow on the Pujada Bay nickel project.

Asiaticus Management Corp. (Amcor) said its partnership with BHP Billiton has remained on the exploration stage six years after the agreement was signed in 2002 in Singapore.

Ruben C. Tan, Armcor vice president, has expressed worry over the Australian firm’s announcement it would start actual operation only in 2019, in what he said was an apparent “mine banking” by its foreign partner. Mine banking means a mining company lays claim on as many potential mine sites through exploration, to be reserved for future operations.

With actual operation still years ahead, we cannot get our royalty fee and with the community not getting any benefits, said Tan, who asked the Department of Environment and Natural Resources Secretary Joselito Atienza, in an April 4, 2008 letter, to rescind the joint venture agreement. “We could not wait for that very long duration of time. We want to start now,” Tan said, adding actual mining operations appears to be not a priority of the Australian firm at this point in time.

Meanwhile, an indigenous peoples tribal council also wants BHP Billiton out of the province, for not respecting tribal customs, in a resolution on April 11 by the Mandaya Tribal Council of Macambol in Mati City.

Rufino A. Mapinogos, tribal chieftain, accused BHP Billiton of fencing off indigenous people from their ancestral domain, intruded into their land without consent, and desecrated secret grounds by taking pictures of them.

After the signing of the agreement with Amcor, BHP Billiton said it would start mine production in 5 yeas, build a $1.5 million melting plant after completing an $85-million exploration program.

But Tan said these never happened. He said their partner even allegedly “took absolute control of the project, particularly by making the time table for the exploration and mining activities, infusion and utilization of funds and other important management decisions subject to its sole whim, in violation of the Philippine Constitution and existing laws.” He feared the Davao Oriental nickel would go the way of BHP Billiton’s project in Surigao del Sur, which its partner Clarence Pimental also wanted rescinded due to years of delay in actual mining operations.