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Placer Dome (Philippines)
Company details Placer Dome 215 /Marcopper Mining Corporation 216
Headquartered in Vancouver, Canada
Has interests in 14 mines employing 11,100 people
Had a market capitalisation of USD 3.6 billion year-end 2001
Produced 2.75 million ounces of gold, 417 million pounds of copper
and 6.6 million ounces of silver in 2001
Formed in Vancouver, Canada in 1987 by the amalgamation of
Placer Development Limited of Vancouver, and Dome Mines Limited
and Campbell Red Lake Mines Limited of Toronto
Disaster Site: Marinduque Island (65 km Southeast of Manila) Philippines 217
Company activity Mining
Type of incident Accidental Spill:
On March 24, 1996, three to four million tons of copper mine tailings
escaped from a drainage tunnel at the mine and spilled into the Boac
and Makulapnit rivers.
Permanent Pollution:
Between 1975 and 1988, an estimated 84 metric tons of mine
tailings were discharged into the Calancan Bay. An estimated 200
million metric tons of mine tailings were also dumped into the Tapian
Pit, an open-cut mine site in Mt. Tapian.
Concern was raised recently over the imminent possibility of another
breach in the pit.
Type of damage Among other things, a Joint UNEP/OCHA Assessment Mission
report 218 states that:
� The Makulapnit and Boac River system has been so
significantly degraded as to be considered and environmental
disaster;
� The aquatic life, productivity and beneficial use of the rivers
for domestic and agricultural purposes are totally lost as a
result of the physical process of sedimentation;
� The coastal bottom communities adjacent to the mouth of the
Boac River are also significantly degraded as a direct result
of smothering by the mine tailings;
� There is no evidence of acute poisoning in the exposed
population due to the mine tailings; There is an increased
health and safety risk due to immersion and flooding as a
result of the very large volume and physical properties of the
mine tailings, should they be mobilised during the wet
215 www.placerdome.com/about/index.asp
216 Coumans, Catherine,PhD. Backgrounder on Placer Dome in the Philippines, January 16,2002.
www.miningwatch.ca/publications/Marinduque_bacgnd.html
217 Mallari, Delfin T., Jr. Same stories remain 5 years after Marinduque mine spill.
www.inq7.net/reg/2001/nov/11/text/reg_2-1p.html
218 Report of the Assessment Mission Conducted by the Joint UNEP/OCHA Environment Unit.
www.reliefweb.int/ocha_ol/programs/response/unep/unep4.html
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