Why allow Philex to be beaten up?

MANILA, Philippines – At a recent annual meeting of gold and copper producer Philex Mining Corp, stockholders have expressed their concern over the media attention that the mining company has received following a tailings spill that occured in August.

One stockholder voiced his concern at the annual stockholders meeting held on Tuesday, April 30, asking, “Are steps being taken to level the playing field so the company and people are not being exposed and beaten up by the government and anti-mining groups?”

In response, Philex chairman Manny V. Pangilinan said, “I don’t have a ready answer to that. What we’ve done is to explain as carefully and as extensively as we can the position of the company. We comply [with] all government requirements in respect to the rehabilitation of the environment, mediation, and all other safety measures that needed to be undertaken in protecting the integrity of the mining.”

“There’s been a significant fine levied on us which we [settled] without benefit of any discount or any preferred payment on that more than P1 billion fine,” he said.

“I don’t know why we are not getting a treatment similar to accidents, which may have happened to other companies,” Pangilinan added.

At the end of February, Philex Mining was able to resume its gold-copper mine operations in Benguet mountain province for up to 4 months as part of rehabilitation and clean up efforts for the tailings pond that had leaked in August 2012.

The mine was forced to halt operations for 7 months and the company was forced to pay the government a fine of over P1-billion. – Rappler.com