A tractor works on the pond wall that collapsed. Notice a
portion the Mambulao Bay in the background. Some 200 tons of mine waste from
this pond flooded down the mountain slope on Friday, April 13, 2012 and damaged
at least 10 houses, water tributaries, a small area of a farmland and a portion
of the nearby seashore.- MWBuzzpic by ALFREDO P HERNANDEZ More photos by APH below story.
THE retrieval of spilled silts from the
collapsed tailings pond of Johson Gold Mining Corporation operating outside in
Jose Panganiban, CamNorte will be completed by the end of this month.
This was assured by Darwyn H Morada, acting resident manager of the gold miner, in a letter submitted to Jose Panganiban Vice-Mayor Ariel M Non dated May 5, 2012.
Non, who headed a panel that investigated the
cause of the mine tragedy and to decide on the fate of the company, gave the
miner until May 5, 2012 to deal with the issue.
A copy of the letter was emailed to MWBuzz by
Jason A Marcelo, company vice-president, from Metro Manila.
Mine wastes of about 200 metric tons from
JGMC operations flooded down the hillside slopes of Baranggay Bagong-bayan
outside the town’s poblacion on Friday, April 13, 2012, when the wall of one of
the five tailings ponds at the mining camp collapsed.
The mining camp is located atop a mountain at
Baranggay Bagong-Bayan that overlooks Mambulao Bay.
The flooding that occurred at about 4pm
affected about 10 houses along its path and inundated a nearby creek and some
food gardens.
The mine wastes had reached the main road,
blocking traffic for quite some time.
A big amount of the silt had also reached the
bay water which was just a few meters away from the main road. However, no
“fish-kill” was observed, according to Bagong-Bayan baranggay officials.
After investigating the incident, Non’s panel
had given JGMC until May 5, 2012 to come up with plans on how to prevent
further occurrences of similar disaster.
It also ordered the miner to do a cleanup and
pay the damages caused by the tails’ flooding.
Earlier, Mayor Ricarte Padilla told MWBuzz in
an interview that the miner had to do something about its tailing ponds.
“Otherwise, they (Johson) won’t get the
endorsement of the municipal government for a renewal of their mining permits”
from the government.”
Recently, the company invited MWBuzz to visit
the mining camp to see the progress being carried out on the damaged tailings
pond and the efforts to retrieve silt along the path of the mine waste flood,
including those that ended up in the nearby shoreline.
In his letter, Morada said that “retrieval
operation of spilled silt is expected to be completed by the end of this month
(May) while bench-type retaining wall of both Tails Pond ‘E’ and ‘F’ were
planned to be completed within two months”.
He said that during these two months,
concrete toe construction will be implemented, following boulders rip-rap to
the third bench retaining wall.
Morada said the company would also establish
a secondary vegetation to avoid further scouring of the ground during wet
months.
“Cleaned-up areas especially along the creek and at the back of
affected households will be planted with trees while secondary growth
vegetation will be adopted to cover barren/exposed areas.”
Morada said the company “will seek endorsement from the host
community (Baranggay Bangong-Bayan) for the re-utilization of affected ponds
(ponds“E” and “F”.)
He stressed that “Johson will not resume operations until the
integrity of these ponds is satisfactorily has been assured”.
It would be recalled that mining operations halted in November
2011 to allow the company to do maintenance works and repairs of its gold
processing facilities.
Since then it has not resumed operations and would continue to
remain shut until the disaster incident has been appropriately dealt with by
the company.
“Mill plant will be de-bugged to avoid speed deterioration of
equipment and its auxiliaries,” Morada said.
He explained that during the process, the company will utilize
siltation ponds as disposal of plant tails located within the vicinities of
“tails pond BC”.
The company has six ponds, of which two have been shutdown.
On the other hand, Morada said the Tacoma pit operation will carry
out rehabilitation for its closure and abandonment.
However, the development of underground workings (for both Tacoma
and San Mauricio vein system) will proceed to prepare for the complete
resumption of operations.
Likewise, the miner has also updated the municipal government on
its tailings cleanup efforts:
1. Retrieval and recovery operation of spilled silt continued
utilizing both manual tools and heavy equipment.
“As of yesterday, May 06, 2012, computed silt for transfer to
stable ground is around 200 MT (4% remaining of the total silt spillage). Total
silt recovery is expected to be completed by May 15, 2012.”
2. Embankment repair and rehabilitation of the damaged part and
containment of silt within catch basin were established as of May 4, 2012.
Engineered retaining wall design will be implemented as per
revised plan
3. Cleanup of silt along “Korokan creek” was completed dated April
17, 2012
4. Restored domestic and local water district lines within
vicinity of the damage area
Baranggay Bagong-Bayan Baranggay Chairman Jason J Arriola told
MWBuzz that Johson was to pay a total of P14,000 in damages caused to properties
affected by the waste flooding.
Johson Gold Mining is the only Filipino-owned gold mine in the
country.
For comment: ahernandez@thenational.com.pg and alfredophernandez@y7mail.com
The path of mine wastes that flooded a neighborhood at
Baranggay Bangong-bayan on Friday, April 13, 2012 damaging at least 10 houses
and inundating a nearby creek, drinking water system and farmlands. – MWBuzzpic
by ALFREDO P HERNANDEZ
The muddy path of destruction. - MWBuzzpic by ALFREDO P HERNANDEZ
These two culverts under the road at Baranggay
Bagong-bayan are overwhelmed and disabled by mine tailings that flooded a part
of Baranggay Bagong-bayan. - MWBuzzpic by ALFREDO P HERNANDEZ
Portion of the pond wall that collapsed. Seen in the
background are houses at Baranggay Calero on the other side of Mambulao Bay. – MWBuzzpic by ALFREDO P HERNANDEZ
Tons of mine wastes end up on the shore of Mambulao
Bay at Baranggay Bagong-bayan, causing massive silt pollution in the water. –
MWBuzzpic by ALFREDO P HERNANDEZ
A portion of the pond that collapsed and released about
200MT of mine wastes. - Photo courtesy of JGMC
Farmland that has been inundated by a flood of mine
tailings. - Photo courtesy of JGMC
JGMC workers retrieve mine wastes from the creek. - Photo courtesy of JGMC
Water hose network at Baranggay Bagong-bayan that was
knocked by the tailings. It has been restored by the mining company. - Photo courtesy of JGMC
Water meters still half-buried by mine wastes. - Photo courtesy of JGMC
Tractors haul off sacks of mine tailings that have been retrieved
by Johson workers from the disaster area. They are to be brought back to the
camp for proper disposal. - Photo courtesy of JGMC
A tractor retrieves tons of mine wastes. - Photo courtesy of JGMC
Sacks of retrieved mine wastes wait to be hauled off back to
the mine camp. Seen on left is one of the t0 houses that have been damaged. - Photo courtesy of JGMC
Portion of a damaged farmland. - Photo courtesy of JGMC
Acting mining manager Engr Darwyn Morada points to MWBuzz
the locations of the Johson Gold’s mining claims around the municipality of Jose
Panganiban. – MWBuzzpic by ALFREDO P HERNANDEZ
No comments:
Post a Comment