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MANILA - The country's biggest listed mining company on Friday said it may take weeks before operations at its Padcal copper-gold mine would resume, resulting in foregone revenues of as much as P40 million a day.
In a disclosure to the Philippine Stock Exchange, Philex Mining Corp. early in the day announced the suspension of operations at its Padcal mine in Benguet province as a precautionary measure following heavy rains that resulted in an unusual and heavy accumulation of rainwater in the mine’s tailings pond.
In a press conference later in the day, Manuel V. Pangilinan, Philex chairman and chief executive, said its buyers, bankers and the government had been apprised about the incident, adding that the company may be unable to ship materials from the Padcal mine in September.
“Our last shipment will be on August 7, and it may take several weeks before we can continue operations at the mine since we still have to secure proper government permit after we fix the problem,” he said.
Philex processes at least 25,000 metric tons of ore every day, of which 90 percent was dumped in the tailings pond.
Pangilinan said the company has taken out a $50 million environmental insurance and $30 million business interruption insurance to help restore the integrity of the tailings pond and rehabilitate affected areas of the leak.
He said the sediment flowing from the tailings dam already stopped, allowing the company's engineers to determine the extent of the problem.
“Initial inspection showed that water and sediment are being discharged from one of the two underground tunnels that drain clear water from the penstock in the tailings pond. Heavy rains caused a big break in the tunnels, which resulted in a crater in the middle of the pond,” Pangilinan said.
“It was fairly serious. Clearly, it is an accident that we don’t want to happen. That’s why we are committed to fix the tailings pond properly before we can resume operations,” he said.
“We will not continue operations until we are sure that the tailings pond is structurally sound,” he added.
Philex assured the public that the water and sediment from its tailings pond are safe and non-toxic, and that no injuries or fatalities were reported as a result of this incident.
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