Mining?

Mining.

In the Philippines, Mining has been branded as bad by the media and by the church. According to the church they say that the minerals that are found in the earth are a gift from God and should be left that way. The media never publishes anything about the positive benefits of mining. Some people even go as far as advocating for the closure of mines, the most recent one I've seen is a petition about the mining site in Palawan by Gina Lopez. 

Mining in its nature is really destructive, it is unavoidable. The only way to retrieve the minerals that are found underground is to remove whatever is on top of the minerals and start digging. What causes concern for the people is the fact that the mining companies are removing trees and reportedly damaging the natural environment around the mining site. There were also issues raised concerning the pollution of water due to the tailings dams created by the mines. Environmentalists and Anti-mining supporters all have a lot of negative things to say about mining and most of them have a point. However, most if not all of them generalize mining as a bad thing. They do not care if the firms are small or large. They don't even bother visiting the mining site to verify if their "advocacies" are grounded properly. If ever they do visit, they only want to see the deforested areas, and the barren lands that are still due for digging. 

I went to a mining site recently, it was an exposure trip for one of our major classes called Monitoring and Evaluation. Before we went there, I recalled all my preconceived notions about mining based from media and from opinions of people that I've talked to. Our trip was going to the Rio Tuba Nickel Mining site in Bataraza, Palawan. On our way there, we noticed that the surroundings were getting more and more remote, there were a lot of constructions going on with the roads. It was indicative that development in that area is getting better. 

Upon arrival at the mining site, I was surprised to see an airfield. A private airfield owned by the mining company that is used to bring in VIPs and other supplies to the mining site. The company also had a compound that had probably the best facilities in the area. There was a Health Center which was the most equipped health center in that part of Palawan. It had a La Salle run school which was free for the children of the workers of the mining site, it is worth noting that the quality of education in that school is La Salle standard and the facilities are well-funded including a 10million peso computer lab filled with Apple Computers and gadgets. They also had various facilities for the use of the workers including pools, basketball courts, tennis courts, football fields, Track and Field oval, and many other amenities. They also have housing for their workers which has free electricity and water. For the less fortunate workers, they bring in Gawad Kalinga to create villages for them. 

During our conversations with Mr. JB Baylon, who is one of the top associates for Nickel Asia Corporation, we learned that the company is pumping more than 120 million pesos in funding for the development of the barangays that they are affecting. It was mandated by law, but they chose to also go above and beyond what was expected of them. We also found out about the rehabilitation programs that the company is doing to try to restore whatever destruction they have caused. They even brought us to a rehabilitated area to show the young forest that was starting to grow in it. We were told that highly mineralized soil is not suitable for agriculture because the metal and mineral content of the soil is too high. When they mine out an area, they set aside the top soil, mine the minerals, cover the hole again with the soil and fertilize it with chicken dung and reforest it with native trees. They were successful.

I could go on and on about what I've seen but a reflection on what I saw is not the entire point of this blog. What I'm trying to point out is that mining is not as bad as people say it is. Most of the destruction that people point out are caused by Small Scale Miners who have no care for the environment. They are just there for a quick buck. Their practices are actually dangerous due to the fact that they are not taking the necessary precautions. 

Large scale mining corporations, however, are governed by the laws of the state. They are mandated to be responsible and pay what is due to the government and to the locality that they are in. Yes they still do cause destruction to the environment at the onset of their operation, however, they spend a great deal of money restoring the land back to what it used to be, or even better. 

What large mining companies do is not advertised. They are usually conducting their operations away from the attention of media. The only time they are brought into the spotlight is when snotty environmentalist wanna-bes are advocating against something that they have never been to. Despite repeated attempts by the mining company in Palawan to invite Gina Lopez to visit their site to show her what they do, she keeps turning it down. And yet she continues to advocate against something she hasn't even seen. 

People will always find something to hate about mining, but they fail to understand that it is an industry that they cannot live without. Almost everything we enjoy right now is taken from mining, from the house we live in, the cars we drive, our cellphones, laptops, cameras, buildings, and all the other things that area already rooted in our day to day lives. Mining should be regulated to ensure that people who are affected are getting what they deserve. The mining site we went to was doing more than what was required for them.  

If they truly are advocating against mining, then they should stop using mining products altogether. They should live what they say, and support their advocacies totally. They can say goodbye to social media, cellphones, email, ipads, iphones, watches, cars, houses, and many other things that I am sure they won't give up. 

So why not just shut up?