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Representatives end plan to construct the biggest copper mine in the Philippines Officials in the southern Philippines have terminated a $5.9 billion project to make use of Southeast Asia’s largest known undeveloped copper and gold reserves. However, they have revealed the possibility of the endeavor being restored.
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he Metropolitan Council of Tampakan, house to 40,000 people in the district of South Cotabato, affirms that Sagittarius Mines, Inc. (SMI) failed to honor its side of the arrangement governing the development of the mine. That bargain, the community principal contract (MPA), is expected to be reviewed and upgraded every four years, yet this hasn’t been done since 2009. There were efforts to assess the MPA, yet the mayor and various other local reps were omitted from the settlements, the
council stated. “After scrutiny, there are stipulations in the MPA that are considered unclear, unfavorable to residents of Tampakan and unduly link the hands of the local government unit [LGU] of Tampakan,” the council stated in a resolution dated August 10 but made public on August 14. “As such, the LGU cannot rest and fold its arms not to intervene in any activity launched by its people if, certainly, their legal rights have actually been gone against unlike some stipulations of the contract.”
The MPA was currently a done deal instead of being discussed with the federal government, the resolution said. Metropolitan lawmakers claim they are no more interested in evaluating or upgrading the 2009 MPA with the firm but are open to producing or formulating a new agreement, which means SMI can still seek the mammoth Tampakan task under a brand-new community agreement. The resolution has actually been sent to appropriate government firms, however, SMI has yet to release a statement since the time this post was released. Mongabay sought comment from SMI officials yet did not receive a reaction from the mining firm. If accepted, the Tampakan job would be the biggest copper mine in the Philippines as well as among the largest in the world. The site is forecasted to yield an average of 375,000 lots of copper and 360,000 ounces of gold in concentrate annually through a 17-year period. In 1995, the Philippine government approved the Tampakan project, the contract to explore and create the location’s natural resource via an economic or technical aid contract (FTAA). The MPA took effect in 1997, and also ever since SMI has paid Tampakan community a minimum of 40 million pesos ($822,370 at current prices), or approximately 2.5 million pesos ($51,400) a year in conjunction with its economic commitments, according to a 2013 state audit. However, the terms of the deal are “unbalanced,” the
40 | SKILLINGS MINING REVIEW October 2020
