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Banned mercury still in use by N.Vizcaya small miners

03/24/2008

The hunt for gold by illegal small-scale miners in Barangay Didipio in Kasibu, Nueva Vizcaya, has been going on for many years now. But while a big number of them have already stopped using banned mercury in their mining operations, still few continue their unlawful activities.

The Department of Environmental and Natural Resources (DENR) had warned of the dangers of using mercury in mining operations.

The warning has many times been repeated by OceanaGold Philippines, Inc. that using mercury in mining operations is dangerous and hazardous not only to one’s health but to the environment as well.

According to the DENR, human intake of mercury-containing water or fish,accumulated over time, can impair a person’s ability to feel,see, move and taste and it may lead to eventual death.

In his visit last year to the mining project of OceanaGold, then DENR Secretary Angelo Reyes told a crowd of provincial government leaders, indigenous people and residents to support the copper-gold project of OceanaGold “so that your province and community can start enjoying its benefits.”

Ramoncito Gozar, OceanaGold vice president for communications and external affairs, said his firm is doing all it can to settle peacefully the differences with the illegal small-scale miners n the province “to make them our partner in development.”