SMI, LGUs hold consultations on Tampakan

Xstrata Copper-led Sagittarius Mines Inc. (SMI) has started conducting consultations with officials of local government units in South Cotabato and Davao del Sur on the highlights of its draft Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) for the $5.9-billion Tampakan copper-gold project.

SMI corporate communications manager John Arnaldo said South Cotabato, now under an open pit mining ban, and Davao del Sur were two of the three provinces that host the Tampakan mining operations.

South Cotabato Governor Arthur Pingoy confirmed in a text message that meetings were ongoing. He, however, declined to comment further as the meeting was still ongoing as of this writing.

Pingoy said in previous interviews that the Sangguniang Panlalawigan of South Cotabato wanted to study SMI’s EIS (the report resulting from the Environmental Impact Assessment or EIA process) as it evaluated appeals from various parties to abandon or modify the open pit ban in the province.

South Cotabato’s open mining pit ban, if not lifted before Tampakan goes into operation in 2016, would derail the project.

Consultations on the EIS highlights in Sultan Kudarat, another host province, is forthcoming, said Jess P. Bayrante, associate director for environment at AECOM, a US-based company that is preparing the EIS for SMI.

Arnaldo said the consultations on the draft EIS would gather additional inputs from stakeholders. The potential impacts of the project, both positive and negative, are mentioned and addressed in the draft EIS.

The EIS is a major requirement for the environmental compliance certificate (ECC), which SMI needs to move forward with the Tampakan project.

The consultations are doubly significant in the sense that should these result in the host communities’ endorsement of the Tampakan project, this would help SMI in getting government approval of its definitive feasibility study (DFS).

The Mines and Geosciences Bureau is reviewing the DFS and the approval process requires endorsement from host municipalities, Bayrante said.

SMI officials said the consultations put the company on track with its promise to South Cotabato to submit highlights of the EIS within the third quarter of 2011.