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THE
validity of the claim of publicly traded Oriental
Peninsula Resources Group on two mining sites in
Palawan is being questioned by the indigenous peoples residing in these areas,
saying they have not given the company permission to
conduct mining activities as required by law.
In a
letter to National Commission on Indigenous Peoples (NCIP)
chairman Eugenio Insigne, senior leaders of the Tagbanua
and Palawano of Narra and Sofronio Española, Palawan
province, appealed for help and sought the nullification
of the mineral-production sharing agreement (MPSA)
granted to Oriental Peninsula’s operating unit
Citinickel Mining Corp.
According to the indigenous group, Platinum Group Metals
Corp. (PGMC) is the only company they have given
permission to mine in their ancestral land, and thus
cannot understand how Citinickel could have secured an
MPSA for nickel mining there.
They
claimed that Citinickel’s MPSA is illegal, since they
have not given the company permission to mine their land
and noted that the Philippine Mining Act and the
Indigenous Peoples Rights Act provide that MPSAs can be
granted only to companies that have the permission of
the indigenous peoples.
“We are
thus alarmed by reports that Citinickel is now the
holder of the contract with the government to conduct
mining operations in Narra, Palawan, even though we
never gave them permission nor have we signed any
agreement that will safeguard our rights as natives of
the land covered by the mining area,” they stated in the
letter.
Oriental
Peninsula
completed last December its P800-million initial public
offering mainly to finance Citinickel’s capital
expenditures, working capital requirements and other
general corporate purposes.
Earlier,
it said it will start production at its nickel-mining
site in Palawan within the first half of 2008. In its
first year of operations, the company expects to produce
600,000 tons of nickel. This will be raised up to 1.5
million tons per year in the next 10 years and intended
for export markets.
However,
Citinickel cannot start mining operations as projected
since PGMC is still in possession of the
Toronto
and Narra nickel-mine sites pending the resolution of
its dispute with Citinickel over the right to operate
these mines.
The
indigenous peoples called on the NCIP and the Department
of Environment and Natural Resources to resolve this
controversy and invalidate Citinickel’s MPSA since they
have not given the company their permission to mine the
site.
PGMC had
started small-scale mining operations in these sites
after signing a 25-year operating agreement with Olympic
Mines and Development Corp., which held the original
mining claim.
However,
Olympic had later sought to cancel its operating
agreement with PGMC after it signed agreements with
Rockworks Resources Corp. (subsidiary of Oriental
Peninsula) to form a joint venture (Citinickel) which
will develop and operate the nickel mines.
PGMC has
challenged Olympic’s efforts to cancel its operating
agreement, citing lack of due process and argued that
there was no violation of the agreement to warrant its
cancellation.
These
legal issues are currently pending before the courts. |
