Water, transparency and mining concerns in the Philippines
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- Category: OceanaGold Philippines
- Published: Sunday, 08 March 2020 17:04
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The communities of Didipio, Nueva Visacaya have been up in arms against the operation of Oceana Gold Philippines, Inc. (OGPI). OGPI has been operating a copper-gold mine in Barangay Didipio in Kasibu, Province of Nueva Vizcaya. A Financial or Technical Assistance Agreement (FTAA) was awarded to OGPI in 1994, but the company only started its full operations in 2011. The first commercial production was reported in April 2013. Now, the FTAA has expired and is up for renewal.
The negative social and environmental impacts of the mine have been one of the concerns of the local stakeholders. More recently, the communities living near the Didipio mine claimed to have water supply problems including access to potable water, and availability for use in their homes and farms. Media releases from OGPI stated that it has been responsible for water management. The extent of water recycling at the Didipio mines is almost 75% at present, according to Oceana Gold Corp.
Since water is vital in mining, John Morillo, a graduate student of the National Institute of Geological Science of the University of the Philippines, and I decided to do an analysis of the water use of large scale mining in the Philippines. This study was supported by the Natural Resources Governance Institute (NRGI)
The Didipio Mine was one of the large-scale mines we examined. Using publicly available data, we estimated the available surface and groundwater resources of the area and compare these with water consumption at mines to determine if there is over extraction. We also tried to understand the impact of water consumption based on the mining activities and their rate of extraction and timing (i.e. which activities or events possibly correspond to an increase or decrease in consumption) by carrying out statistical analyses to establish correlation. We identified areas affected by water consumption using existing climate and land use data and its short-term and long-term impact to the water use of local communities.
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The mining industry does not provide enough income to cover the employment, food, and quality of life need