CASE BRIEF: THE MINDORO NICKEL PROJECT
Alyansa Laban sa Mina (ALAMIN)

Background Information:

On March 14, 1997, MINDEX Resources Development, Inc. was issued exploration permit by Mines and Geo-Sciences Bureau of DENR Region IV, awarding control to a 9,720-hectare concession in Sablayan, Occidental Mindoro for nickel/cobalt deposits. The mining site is bounded more proximately to the municipality of Victoria, Oriental Mindoro, along the watersheds of Ibulo, Aglubang and Buraboy, river tributaries to Magasawang-Tubig.

MINDEX ASA is a public Norwegian company engaged in exploration and development of mineral resources, with ongoing activities in Norway, Greenland, Ghana, Vietnam and the Philippines. The company, listed at the Oslo Stock Exchange, claimed to have a market value of around USD60 million. Their other active exploration projects in the Philippines include Lubang Island, Negros and Palawan.

The Mindoro Nickel Project was then their most advanced project. The project involves not only mining but also ore processing in Pili, Pinamalayan, using High Pressure Acid Leach (HPAL) and for its disposal, the Deep Sea Tailing Placement (DSTP) in Tablas Strait. Mindex estimates that the mine site would produce 40,000 tons of nickel and 3,000 tons of cobalt per year. In addition, during the mineral leaching process, 130,000 metric tons of ammonium sulfate are expected to be produced.

In November 13, 1998, during the period that Mindex was applying for a renewal of the exploration permit, an application for a mineral production sharing agreement (MPSA AMA-IV-097 and MPSA AMA IVB-103) was submitted by the Aglubang Mining Corporation, covering the same areas being explored by Mindex in Victoria, Oriental Mindoro and Sablayan, Occidental Mindoro. Aglubang Mining is one of the subsidiaries of Mindex ASA, owning two-third of the concession area.

In February 29, 2000, a Canadian company, Crew Development Corporation has acquired 97.7% of the shares of Mindex ASA, making the former the surviving corporation by virtue of the merger. Mindex changed its name to Crew Minerals Philippines Inc. (CMI).

Social and Ecological Impact:

The 9,700 hectare-mining area is within the ancestral domain claim of the Alangan and Tadyawan indigenous Mangyan communities. The granting of mining permit to Mindex/Crew/Aglubang will result to the displacement of the Mangyan communities.

Furthermore, the large-scale mining will undeniably cause drastic impacts on the life of the Mangyans. Since the traditional culture of the Mangyans revolve around their relationship with their land, the entry of mining operation will change the very foundation of their distinct existence as indigenous people. The destruction of the land from where they get their sustenance both physically and spiritually could forever alter their way of life and their traditional values that are deeply rooted on their autonomy and in the interdependence of all life.

The Mindoro Nickel Project threatens the ecological integrity of the area since the mine site covers one of the province’s actual watershed areas. Further destruction of such will dramatically affect the already fragile symbiosis of that particular ecosystem. As mentioned in the Pre-feasibility Report of Kvaerner Metals, a consultancy firm hired by Mindex, the project poses a threat to the loss of forest habitat due to massive clearing, bulldozing and temporary stockpiling of the topsoil in the mine site. No amount of mitigating measures can be done to reconstruct a wildlife habitat massively destroyed by a mining operation.

The mine area on Mindoro falls within a critical watershed area for four major rivers systems that support two main irrigation systems which provide irrigation for 70% of the provinces lucrative rice fields and fruit tree plantations. Mindoro ranks as the third largest food-producing province in the Philippines and is considered the ‘foodbasket’ of the southern Manila region. The nickel mine posses a great threat to this highly productive agricultural area due to two main factors:

> Deforestation of mountainous slopes with subsequent siltation and flooding of rivers and contamination of fertile rice growing valleys land.

> Contamination of ground and surface water used for drinking water, irrigation and livestock.

The risks to the environment, local livelihoods and regional food security were so high that local and provincial governments were strongly opposed the mine.

People’s Strong Resistance:

A very broad coalition of Mindorenos (people of Mindoro Island) opposed to the mine joined together in May of 1999 to form the organisation ALAMIN ‘Alliance opposed to the mine’. It included civil society groups, Roman Catholic and Protestant church leaders, NGOs, peoples organisations, schools, teachers and students, mountaineers and environmentalists, peasant groups, human right advocates, Mangyan federations (representing indigenous people’s), elected officials at various levels of government and villages. Several other national and regional NGOs, tribal councils and elected officials campaigned alongside ALAMIN.

The people’s unified stand against the Mindoro Nickel Project and their opposition to the entry of any mining operation in the province were clearly articulated in the Ordinance promulgated by the Provincial Council of Oriental Mindoro declaring a mining moratorium in the province. The Sangguniang Panlalawigan Ordinance, passed on January 28, 2002, explicitly forbids all forms of mining in the province, stating that “it shall be unlawful for any person or business entity to engage in land clearing, prospecting, exploration, drilling, excavation, mining, transport of mineral ores and such other activities in furtherance of and/or preparatory to all forms of mining operations for a period of twenty-five (25) years.” Exempted from the moratorium is the excavation of ordinary stones, sand, gravel earth and other materials, which are operated by small-scale miners.

The Maneuvering of the National Government:

In spite of its obvious social unacceptability and serious environmental concerns, the mine was approved in December, 2000 by the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) in the last days of the regime of President Estrada, who was facing hearings for corruption. In January of 2001, President Estrada fell to the people power revolution, shortly, after which there were huge protests in Mindoro against the approval of the mine.

In July of 2001 the Department of Environment and Natural Resources, under the new government of Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, revoked the mining concession on environmental and social impact grounds. Then DENR Secretary Alvarez explained his decision and that of President Arroyo as being based on the need top protect critical watersheds, to protect the food security of the Mindorenos (local communities), and to respect the social unacceptability of the project. “The Mindoro Nickel Project is one case where sustainability is bound to fail…President Arroyo is fully aware of the situation. …what does it gain the nation to be short sighted and merely think of money, when an irreparable damage to the environment will cost human lives, health and livelihood capacity of our farmers and fisherfolks endangering the food security of our people,” (Heherson Alverez, Philippine Star, November 13, 2001).

The MNP had been rejected overwhelmingly by the people of Mindoro and even by all the local government units. This strong opposition of the people had been one of the decisive factors in the DENR’s decision to cancel the MPSA.

However on March 10, 2004, the Office of the President revoked and set aside the Notice of Termination/Cancellation earlier issued against the MPSA (Mineral Production Sharing Agreement) of Aglubang Mining Corporation. What explains the sudden turn-around of government policy? It is quite surprising that the Office of the President will reverse its decision long after the people’s victory had been won.

Crew Gold Corporation, represented by its President and CEO, Jan A. Vestrum, had jubilantly proclaimed the Resolution coming from the Office of the President as signaling the revival of the Mindoro Nickel Project (MNP) and “the change in attitude of the Government of the Philippines towards mining, from that of tolerance to active promotion...”

People’s Position and Unified Stand:

1. The decision promoting mining, applauded by the foreign transnational corporation has caused indignation and anguish among our people. The present maneuvering of mining corporations to forcibly make their re-entry by taking advantage of the policy of the present administration for the revival of the mining industry is totally irreconcilable to the genuine welfare and interest of the people. The guise of going though the DENR/MGB processes is a deceptive ploy to legitimize the approval of the mining permit. But we believe, beyond all the legal gobbledygook, the people’s interest should be held supreme – salus populi est supreme lex!

2. We maintain that the MPSA issued to Crew Minerals through its affiliate, Aglubang Mining Corporation is null and void ab initio, for the project does not have social acceptability. Long before the cancellation of Aglubang’s MPSA, the people of Oriental Mindoro had already spoken. Through the broadest coalition ever assembled in the province’s history, ALAMIN (Alyansa Laban sa Mina) was able to staged series of peaceful protest actions attended by a total of 40,000 people to show our strong opposition to the proposed Mindoro Nickel Project. Sixty-five thousand signatures rejecting the MNP had been collected. Dozens of resolutions expressing resistance to the mining project had been submitted to the DENR from different institutions, organizations, churches, sectoral organizations… All the local government units had expressed their unequivocal opposition to the project. The Mangyan Indigenous Peoples organization of SANAMA and KAMTI, whose ancestral domain falls within the mining concession, had also expressed their written opposition.

3. With the irrevocable opposition of the people in Mindoro against mining, we demand respect of the sovereign will of the people and the recognition of our right to chart our own direction of development. Mining corporations should refrain from imposing their profit-driven agenda and in manipulating the national government’s bureaucracy, which have become too accommodating in promoting the plunder of our environment in exchange for investments.

ALYANSA LABAN SA MINA (ALAMIN)
Oriental Mindoro