Citinickel pays P375,000 fine for Palawan mine spill

MANILA, Philippines – Citinickel Mines and Development Corp. has paid the over P375,000 penalties to the government following the November silt spill in its Palawan operations.

In a disclosure to the stock exchange on Friday, February 8, Citinickel’s parent, Oriental Peninsula Resources Group Inc., said it has also constructed additional silting pond to prevent a similar incident in the future.

“Yes we confirm that there was an incident of overflowed water with silt in one of our silting pond…in one of our nickel mining operation located in Brgy. San Isidro, Narra, Palawan,” the listed firm wrote.

The penalties were imposed after the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) and its attached agencies, the Environment Management Bureau (EMB) and Mines and Geosciences Bureau (MGB), conducted water sampling tests on the Pinagduguan River, where some of the water overflowed, two days after the incident in November 25, 2012.

“We immediately stop[ped] our mining operation and immediately clean[ed] up and rehabilitated the river and some adjacent farm lots that were affected by the overflow. The company finished [these] 15 days later…The company already paid [the P375,000-plus fine to] the DENR,” it disclosed.

However, unlike the recent mine spill in Padcal, Benguet that gold producer Philex Mining Corp said was caused by force majeure, the Citinickel incident in Palawan was due to the mine’s lapses, the government’s investigation showed.   

The report said the Palawan mine spill was “due to lapses in the judgement of the mine foreman who was tasked to drain water from silt pond no. 2 to silt pond no. 1.” – Rappler.com