TVI to file case vs Zambo open pit mining ban

TVI Resource Development Phils. Inc. (TVIRD), an affiliate of TVI Pacific Inc. of Canada, has formally advised the Mines and Geosciences Bureau (MGB) that it was preparing to challenge in court an ordinance that banned open cut mining in Zamboanga del Norte.

MGB Director Leo L. Jasareno said in a phone interview over the weekend that TVI officials and their legal counsel had informed MGB officials in a meeting on Friday that the mining company would file a petition for court injunction.

Last Tuesday, TVI Pacific said in a statement that the ordinance, passed by the Sangguniang Panlalawigan ng Zamboanga del Norte, was “unconstitutional.”

The ordinance, which is supposed to take effect on November 6, gives TVIRD one year to wrap up the Canatuan project.

Also threatened is the plan of Philex Mining Corp., the country’s biggest miner in terms of capitalization, to explore the possibility of reviving the Sibutad project in Zamboanga del Norte.

The Sibutad copper-gold project was shelved in early 1999 due to low gold prices. Now that gold prices in the world market have been rising, the company is studying the viability of reviving the project.

Open-pit mining is also known as opencast, open-cut and strip mining. The ban on open-pit mining in the province is seen directly affecting TVI, which operates the Canatuan copper mine in Siocon municipality. TVI is also exploring the Balabag property and has several tenements and working agreements in Zamboanga del Norte.

Jasareno said in a phone interview that the open-pit mining ban would affect not only the individual companies and those that have been depending on their projects for livelihood but also the country’s investment and metallic mineral production targets.