Defending Our Oceans"Greenpeace is committed to defending the health of the world's oceans and the plants, animals and people that depend upon them."

Mining in Rapu Rapu: A Countdown to Disaster

“We are facing a gathering wave of ocean extinction…the seas have reached a tipping point, with scores of species of ocean-dwelling

fish, birds and mammals edging toward extinction.”Pew Institute for Ocean Science 2005

In the Philippines, Bicol’s immensely beautiful marineenvironment and its fragile sea creatures face a grave threat:toxic pollution and siltation caused by mining operations inRapu Rapu Island in Albay Province.

The pristine waters, the rich seagrass beds and mangroves of the region’s Albay Gulf makefor a high biodiversity index, creating exceptionally rich fishing grounds for Bicol’smunicipal fishermen. Dolphins, other sea mammals, sea turtles, egrets, purple herons, etc.,are frequently sighted in these waters. Five out of the 7 marine turtles in the worldincluding the Olive Ridley turtle (mukoy in Bicol) are found in the Albay Gulf making it ahigh priority site for sea turtle conservation.The eastern coast of the Bicol Region, RapuRapu included, is an acknowledged migration path for whale sharks, a iconic species foundin the Red List of the International Union of the Conservation of Nature, which means thespecies is vulnerable and may face extinction in the medium term.

In April 2005, the Department of Environment and Natural Resources of Philippines(DENR) granted an Environmental Compliance Certificate to the Australian firm LafayettePhilippines, Inc. that signaled the start of the extraction of gold, silver, copper and zincwithin Rapu Rapu.

Local and national groups who have been opposing the mine are concerned that toxic minetailings will be released into the sea, and along with it dissolved heavy metals.The islanditself is situated along the country’s typhoon belt, increasing the risk of a breach in thetailings dam, toxics pollution, and other mining catastrophes.

During its few months of operation, the mining company showed negligence, operating evenwhile the mine’s structural safeguards meant to minimize environmental damage were notyet completed. As a result, after heavy rains in October 11 and 31, 2005, cyanide and othercontaminants from the mine spilled into the sea and around the island, resulting in massivefish kills. In January 2006, Lafayette was fined a total of PhP10.7 million for violating theClean Water Act, and for violating the conditions of their Environmental ComplianceCertificate.The company paid only PhP300, 000 initially, and contested the rest of thefine, finally agreeing to pay up six months later on June 20, when payment for the fine wasstipulated as a precondition to the mine’s 30-day test run. Due to the massive fish scare inthe region, which came about following the fish kills, the national government wasobligated to provide PhP 10 million as emergency assistance for affected fisherfolk in the area.

Initial ecological and health studies on the Rapu-Rapu mine warned of heavy metalcontamination, siltation and other acute and long-term impacts on the marine ecosystem,including the complications of acid mine drainage.

A Greenpeace-commissioned report in May 2006, “Fool's Gold:The false promises of theLafayette mining project in Rapu Rapu”, revealed that PhP2.00 per capita income per day

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is all Rapu Rapu stands to gain during the seven-year operation of Lafayette’s open pitmining project.This amount does not even look into the environmental, health and socialcosts that the local population will incur from the mine’s operations.The report concludesthat this project is a losing proposition for the people of Rapu Rapu, as well as forcommunities in outlying areas.

The growing clamor for the closure of Lafayette’s mine forced President GloriaMacapagal-Arroyo to issue Executive Order 145 establishing the Rapu Rapu FactfindingCommission.The Commission was tasked to investigate the massive fishkills brought on bythe successive mine spills in October 2005.

Following months of investigation and public hearings with testimonies from variousexperts including toxicologists, environmental scientists, marine scientists, geologists andmedical doctors, the Commission recommended the permanent closure of the mine and amoratorium on all mining activities in the island.

Ironically, the DENR, which the Commission also found to have been negligent and lackingin capacity for monitoring, was given the mandate to review the findings of theCommission. In the end, the DENR decided in favor of Lafayette, granting a 30-day trialrun for the company, in blatant disregard of the main recommendations of the Commission.

The test run began on July 11, 2006.Two days after, on July 13, a leak, which DENR laterdismissed as a minor incident, occurred during operations. Less than a week later, on July18, a fishkill occurred in one of the creeks leading out of the mine premises. Lafayette hasdismissed this fish kill with allegations of sabotage.The residents report that more fishkillshave since occurred. However, despite the company and the DENR's self-servingpronouncements on transparency, attempts to conduct independent investigations evenoutside Lafayette property on the island, were met with threats from the police, military, aswell as the mine company’s security.

Another spill is not necessary to demonstrate that mining operations will be severelydetrimental to Rapu Rapu and its surrounding waters.The mine in itself already spellsdisaster. It will leave serious, long-term negative effects on the seas—effects that will befelt deeply by the area’s coastal communities for generations to come. Greenpeace joinslocal communities and other sectors in demanding for the permanent closure of Lafayette’smining operations in Rapu Rapu Island, and for the immediate clean up and rehabilitationof the mine site and all affected areas.

oceans.greenpeace.org

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Greenpeace is an independent, campaigning organisation,which uses non-violent, creative confrontation to exposeglobal environmental problems, and to force solutions essential to a green and peaceful future

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