ECC not out of reach for SMI, official says

Xstrata Copper-led Sagittarius Mines Inc. (SMI) may have failed to obtain an Environmental Compliance Certificate (ECC) for the $5.9-billion Tampakan copper-gold project in Mindanao, but it had many chances to act on the open pit ban blocking its project and has more chances to do so, a Cabinet official said Monday.

The Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) has denied SMI’s ECC application due to an open pit ban in South Cotabato, one of the host provinces, Environment Secretary Ramon J.P. Paje said.

Paje also said his department’s action on the application was only a matter of procedure.

SMI has appealed the ECC decision.

Paje has said that if the open pit ban is implemented, SMI cannot use the ECC and there may even be a question as to why DENR issued it in the first place.

The department cannot “sit” on the ECC as some have suggested because it could lead to an automatic approval under Administrative Order No. 42 (AO 42) of 2002 of the Office of the President.

“In other words, there was no other recourse but to deny,” Paje said.

“Do we need the project as a country? Yes. Do we support our national law, which does not ban open pit mining? Yes. But the company is dealing with the local government and so far the open pit ban has not been overturned, and we had to make a decision. Big or small, everyone has to follow the rules. The DENR is not a captured regulator,” Paje said.

Under AO 42’s rules regarding ECCs for “environmentally critical projects” such as mining, the DENR’s Environment Management Bureau has to process and act on an application within 120 working days from the filing date.

SMI’s ECC application was filed on Oct. 14, 2011.