Mark Williams, SMI general manager and David Pearce, executive director of Australia’s Center for International Economics
SAGITTARIUS Mines Inc. (SMI), proponent of the $5.9-billion Tampakan copper-gold project, has formally asked Environment Secretary Ramon Paje to reconsider his decision denying the firm’s application for environmental clearance certificate (ECC).
Mark Williams, SMI general manager, said the motion for reconsideration was submitted to the DENR late last month and incorporated the individual manifesto of support from the host municipalities of the country’s largest mining venture.
Williams said their argument is that the ECC should be the forerunner to any local government ordinance on mining projects and will the source of information for the municipalities and provinces on what their actions would be. This means that the DENR cannot use the South Cotabato ordinance banning open pit mining to reject SMI’s application for ECC.
John B. Arnaldo SMI corporate communications manager, said the DENR’s action was contrary to President Aquino’s policy pronouncements that national laws cannot be overturned by local government ordinances.
“By using the local ordinance as reason for the denial is not consistent with the position consistently stated by the administration. It is the national law that should prevail over the local law,” Arnaldo said.
Williams said they believe the Mining Act of 1995 has been challenged before and was already upheld by the Supreme Court, so what they need now is for the government to be consistent with its policies.
“The policies should be consistent to create investor confidence, the contract needs to be honored, and there needs to be clarity between local and national laws,” Williams said.
He refused to give specific comments on the reported draft executive order that would allegedly make life harder for mining companies to operate in the country. “We have yet to formally receive a copy of the draft EO and we believe that there are more than one version of the draft so it is not right to give specific comments.”
Williams said the company remains positive that despite the setbacks that it suffered at the local government and national government levels, the project will still proceed.
He said when all the necessary approvals have been secured, it will take the company about three-and-a-half years to finish the construction phase and proceed to the mineral production.
SMI, he said, has spent about $360 of the $5.9-billion estimated total project cost million so far.
David Pearce, executive director of Australia’s Center for International Economics, said at a forum at the University of Asia and the Pacific on Wednesday that the Tampakan project should be allowed to continue due to its social and economic impacts.
For instance, Pearce said the project is expected to contribute 1 percent to the national GDP and an average of 10 percent to Mindanao’s GDP.
“I don’t know any other project in the world that can generate such impact,” he said.
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