Gov’t junks HMC’s mining permit application

The application for the renewal of Hinatuan Mining Corp.’s (HMC) mining permit in Eastern Samar has been rejected with finality by the Mines and Geosciences Bureau (MGB), an official said.

MGB Assistant Director Danilo Uykieng said this was the decision of the agency upon the instruction of Environment Secretary Roy Cimatu.

“The secretary said it was a protected area so we could [not] really renew their permit. We already gave back their documents,” he said.

HMC, a subsidiary of the country’s largest nickel producer, Nickel Asia Corp. (NAC), applied for a mineral production sharing agreement (MPSA) renewal last month so it could continue its mining operations for another 25 years.

Although an executive order filed by then President Aquino banned the issuance of new mining agreements, it allowed the renewal of existing ones.

Uykieng said the company must adhere to conditions set by former Environment Secretary Heherson Alvarez after the latter froze work at HMC’s Manicani site in 2001.

Residents had complained to the former secretary saying the firm had set up operations in a protected area without holding public consultations.

It took nearly a decade before the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) granted HMC an MPSA and an environmental compliance certificate (ECC).