DAVAO CITY (Mindanao Examiner / Mar. 4, 2014) – Hundreds of small scale Filipino miners have protested the continued operation of a Canadian mining firm in the southern Philippines, accusing it of environmental destruction, among other allegations.
The miners called for the ouster of the St. Augustine Gold and Copper Limited – which is listed on the main board of the Toronto Stock Exchange – from Compostela Valley where it is actively engaged in developing the King-king copper-gold project.
Photos sent to the regional newspaper Mindanao Examiner by the Kilab Multimedia showed miners from the indigenous group called Indug Kautawan and Bayan carrying placards and streamers and denouncing the company.
Indug Kautawan is a Mansaka term which means “People Stand Up.”
“No to foreign large-scale mining,” one placard reads. Protesters also accused the National Commission on Indigenous Peoples of doing nothing to protect the rights of tribesmen and their ancestral lands.
There was no immediate statement from the St. Augustine Gold and Copper Limited, but the company website described the King-king project as one of the largest undeveloped copper-gold deposits in the world, with a proven and probable mineral reserve that amounts to 617.9M tons at 0.300% total copper and 0.395 g/t gold.
It said the deposit is a gold rich, copper-gold porphyry deposit and located 92kms northwest of Davao City. The project, it said, is listed as one of the top priority projects by the Philippine Mines and Geosciences Bureau.
The company said King-king has a 22-year mine life which will produce at least 3.16Blbs of copper, 5.43Moz of gold and 11.65Moz of silver.
St. Augustine has entered into the feasibility stage of development – social, environmental and engineering phases – and is currently completing a bankable feasibility study on the King-king Project which is expected to commence in 2015. (Mindanao Examiner)
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