Mining in Mindanao

AFTER A long lull, the issue of mining has again hogged the national headlines. Two of the recent mining-related events are the decision of the Court of Appeals declaring the ban on open-pit mining in South Cotabato is valid, arguing the prohibition applies only to small-scale miners.

Though the ruling was only recently circulated, the decision is actually dated August 22, 2022, a good seven months after the court officially issued the judgment.

Another mining-related case involves three smallscale miners in gold-rich Pantukan, Davao de Oro, whose deaths were caused by inhaling noxious gases while working inside a tunnel. Authorities, though, are still objectively looking into the discrepancy discovered between the autopsy report and the death certificate. In the first account, the miners supposedly suffered trauma on the heads while the second states that the demise was due to suffocation.

Lost in the din the cases have generated is the noteworthy event, the 29th Annual Mining Symposium and International Trade Expo in Davao City, an initiative that carries the theme “Forging New Heights in Integral Mining Industry.”