GineersNow Engineering Magazine November 2016 Issue No 009

Vizcaya National High School.
With its exemplary efforts
to implement development
programs for the community and
environment, OGPI received a
gold award for best workplace
practice at the 7th Annual Global
CSR Summit and Awards held in
Yogyakarta, Indonesia.
RTNMC, a nickel ore mine in
Palawan, implements community
initiatives to modernize health
centers, eradicate malnutrition
and decrease infant and
maternal mortality rate. The
mine also regularly conducts
sanitation and health awareness
campaigns, and medical missions.
The company allotted funds for
its Indigents and Indigenous
Peoples’ hospitalization program,
giving 45,944 individuals free
hospitalization and treatment at
the company’s hospital; Other
social projects include coffee
farming projects that provide
a stable source of income for
farmer-members from eight
impact barangays, financial
assistance to improve school
facilities, and provision of
education-related materials.
RTNMC restores mined-out areas
as close as possible to its premining
condition or develop
them for other uses, where
the surrounding communities
will benefit. Because of these
initiatives, RTNMC was awarded
the Presidential Mineral
Industry Environmental Award
for environmental excellence in
2015.
SMMCI, a pre-operating mine in
Surigao del Norte, administers its
community assistance program
by involving the impacted
communities in activities that
enhance quality of life, imparting
them with entrepreneurial skills,
providing seed capital in smallscale
livelihood projects, and
creating organizational forums
to inform people about the
positive and negative effects
of the mining project. Narcita
Ajoc, a member of a People's
Organization in the province and
one of the beneficiaries of the
program said, "SMMCI provided
us with financial literacy,
bookkeeping, entrepreneurship
and leadership training." In 2015,
SMMCI selected and funded 11
academic researches, sponsored
80 out-of-school youths in their
Technical-Vocational training,
and built eight school buildings
benefiting 4000 students in the
province. SMMCI also donated
dormitory buildings, medical
equipment and ambulance to
the communities, while at the
same time improving their water
systems. Among the recognitions
and awards SMMCI received
are the Safest Mine Award
(Exploration Category) and First
Runner Up for Best Mining Forest
(Exploration Category) for its
reforestation efforts.
According to the Philippine Mines
and Geosciences Bureau, as of
January 2015, mining companies
in the country have committed
a total of around $130 million
for social and community
projects, which will benefit 711
barangays. And around $660
million have been committed
for environmental management
and rehabilitation programs. 95
companies participated in the
government's Mining Forest
Program, successfully planting
around 21 million trees over
20,000 hectares to date.
Responsible mining also exists in
other parts of the world. Sullivan
Mine, located in Northwest
Canada, developed a ski hill
and provided low-cost land for
a golf course, which were later
bought by the local government
after mine closure. The previous
mining area then became a yearround
resort, attracting major
investments. Another is a bauxite
mine, Alcoa of Australia Ltd, which
was listed for fifteen consecutive
years on the UN Global 500
Roll of Honor for Environmental
Achievement for its rehabilitation
works on the Darling Plateau. Its
rehabilitation works averages to
600 hectares yearly, and involves
best practices for landscaping,
pre-ripping, soil return, fauna
habitat return, final contour
ripping and seeding, recalcitrant
planting, fertilizing, ongoing
monitoring, and management
of rehabilitated area. Finally,
BHP Billiton launched in its
Science and
Technology also advances
through mining
Mozambique operations in 2014
the Leadership Enhancement
and Development (LEAD) Project,
pledging $8.8 million over five
years to the new agricultural
initiative to benefit farmers from
three districts in the area. The
project aims to work with more
than 50 producer organizations
that represent farms to
increase their income and
business opportunities, improve
production capacity through
farm-level training and provision
of facilities, access to financing,
BHP's project is expected to
directly benefit 6,500 households
in the area. To date, around 30
farmer field schools have already
been established.
Responsible mining, defined as
mining that utilizes best practices
in community development and
environmental management and
rehabilitation exists.
Some governments are now
acknowledging their role in
enforcing responsible mining
in their countries by ratifying
and implementing laws that
require companies to allocate
funds for social development,
environmental management,
and environmental rehabilitation.
In the Philippines, the Philippine
Mining Act of 1995 requires that
companies implement social
development, environmental
management, and rehabilitation
programs as applicable during
the exploration, development,
production, and closure stages.
During the development stage,
mines are required to allocate
10% of its total cost for
environmental management
programs. Mines in the
production stage must allocate
1.5% of their total operating
cost for social development
programs as well as 3% of their
mining and ore processing cost
for environmental programs.
Governments should be partners
in making responsible mining
a reality, through the laws that
they pass and implement.
Mining provides jobs that
improve the economies and
quality of life in the nearby
communities. According to the
Mines and Geosciences Bureau
of the Philippines, around
235,000 workers are employed
in the minerals industry in the
country. With a multiplier effect
of 4, which means that for every
job generated four more jobs are
indirectly created in the upstream
and downstream sectors, roughly
940,000 jobs are indirectly
generated by the mining industry.
A research paper published in
2014 examined employments
generated by mines in three other
countries, namely Escondida
Mine in Chile, Tenge Fungurume
Mine in Katanga, Democratic
Republic of Congo, and various
mines in Zambia. The study
found that 2810 workers were
directly employed in Escondida
Mine in 2003. And around 11,500
jobs were indirectly created by
the mine. In 2012, the Tenge
Fungurume Mine in Katanga,
Democratic Republic of Congo,
directly created 6,600 jobs and
indirectly created 10,500 more
jobs. In Northwestern Province,
Zambia, mining companies
created around 18,000 direct
jobs and 26,000 indirect jobs.
Thousands of jobs generated
directly and indirectly due to
large scale mining operations
can contribute to poverty
reduction. The paper concluded
that "the transformation of a
subsistence economy into one
that is at least partly monetary
also creates the conditions for
NOVEMBER 2016
Mining Engineering and Its Importance
19