All the barangays through the Liga ng mga Barangay of Boac have presented to the provincial government a Resolution strongly opposing the controversial proposed deal due to 'unacceptable conditions', in support of a similar Resolution adopted by the Boac municipal government.. They called for the rejection in its entirety of all the 'stipulated facts' in the proposed agreement and other objectionable conditions.
The Sangguniang Bayan of Boac and Liga ng mga Barangay of Boac, are expected to be joined in the commemoration by members of the Marinduque Council for Environmental Concerns (MaCEC), mining alliances and other groups.
The Marcopper Disaster of March 24, 1996
Marinduque was briefly catapulted into global prominence when on March 24, 1996, the massive spill of mine tailings from the Marcopper Mining Corporation (Marcopper) wrought havoc on the small-island province in central Philippines. (The island measures 959 sq. km and is the14th largest body of land in the Philippine Archipelago.)
The event will be marked by an early morning flower-offering at the Boac River bank near the town center, a mass and a program at the Boac Covered Court.
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| Bluish Makulapnit River upstream that flows to Boac River. Photo: William Mirambil (March 2014) |
Acid Rock Drainage
Acid rock drainage occurs naturally within some environments as part of the rock weathering process but is exacerbated by large-scale earth disturbances characteristic of mining and other large construction activities, usually within rocks containing an abundance of sulfide minerals. Areas where the earth has been disturbed may create acid rock drainage. In many localities the liquid that drains from coalstocks, coal handling facilities, coal washeries, and even coal waste tips can be highly acidic, and in such cases it is treated as acid rock drainage. (Wikipedia)
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| Orangy Canat River upstream that also flows to Boac River. Photo: William Mirambil (March 2014) |
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| Mouth of the Boac River |
Question: Has Boac River made progress in mitigating the impacts of the 1996 tailings spill and impacts of acid-mine drainage from Marcopper?
USGS: The aquatic ecology is still lagging in its recovery in these rivers, most apparently due to impacts of acid-rock drainage from the mine site, but possibly also due to acid and metals derived from tailings deposit still on the riverbanks and still in the riverbeds. Any natural environmental gains are likely to be offset at some point in the future by influx of acid-generating mine wastes, when the Makulapnit siltation impoundment inevitably becomes filled or the siltation dam fails catastrophically. (Mining impacts on Marinduque: Engineering, Health and Environmental Issues. Final Report of the Independent Assessment Team. USGS)
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| 18th Anniversary flowers to the BOAC |
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| Mine tailings on the Boac River |
Marinduque was briefly catapulted into global prominence when on March 24, 1996, the massive spill of mine tailings from the Marcopper Mining Corporation (Marcopper) wrought havoc on the small-island province in central Philippines. (The island measures 959 sq. km and is the14th largest body of land in the Philippine Archipelago.)
Marinduque/Marcopper had become a cause celebre, providing an excellent case for cause-ori- ented groups for it had all the right elements: 1) the choking of once-pristine rivers with sand and silt; 2) pollution of marine waters; 3) violation of environ- mental laws; 4) the profit-making activities of a transnational corporation; 5) association with past abuses of the Marcos dictatorship; 6) destruction of the economic means and way of life of poor rural dwellers; and 7) concerns about the role of govern- ment in administering environmental regulations.
Established in 1964, Marcopper started open-pit mining operations in 1969 at Santa Cruz, in the small- island province of Marinduque. At its peak, the copper-gold-silver producer was the third largest mining company in the country, with a 30,000-ton of run-of-mine (ROM) output per day. This translated into 10.8 million tons ROM output per year.
On March 24, 1996 Marcopper had an accidental release of tailings into the environment from the mine. The concrete plug in the tunnel (from the Tapian Pit to the Makulapnit River) located at the base of the tailings pit burst, and the rock enveloping this plug was fractured, triggering the escape of about 1.6 million cubic meters of mine tailings at the rate of five to ten cubic meters per second. Said volume of mine tailings was equivalent to more than three million tons of hazardous waste.
Prior to this accident, the Tapian Pit was used for tailings storage of the company's adjacent San Antonio Mine, as the Tapian copper ore body was depleted in 1992. With a surface area of 60 hectares, the open pit disgorged 220 million tons of earth and rocks from which one million tons of the copper metal was mined from 1969-1991.
The tailings spillage rendered the 27-kilometer Boac River and its twin Makulapnit River biologically dead immediately and further silted the coastal and estuarine areas near the Boac River delta. At the height of the disaster, five villages had to be evacuated, and an estimated 20,000 people in the 42 villages along the two rivers and the estuary were affected.
It was a big scandal and embarrassment to the government and the mining industry. Marcopper stopped operations on the very same day. After two months, the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) withdrew the Company's Certificate of Compliance effectively shutting down the mining operation. PRRM (After ADB and the Environment [2004] and Marcopper Social Impact Assessment [1996])
