TAMPAKAN, South Cotabato (MindaNews/18 Dec) — The group conducting mining explorations for gold and copper in the Tampakan, South Cotabato area will likely use the controversial open-pit mining method despite high arsenic content in the area.
TAMPAKAN, South Cotabato (MindaNews / December 7) – Estimate of copper and gold deposits here could actually be much higher than earlier reported, the new owner of the Tampakan exploration project said.
DAVAO CITY (MindaNews/24 Nov) — Supreme Court Justice Antonio Carpio told Mindanao lawyers to help prevent foreigners from further exploiting the country’s mineral resources at the expense of the environment, the government and the Filipino people.
TAMPAKAN, South Cotabato (MindaNews/19 November) — “If plans go as targeted,” Sagittarius Mines, Inc. will start construction of facilities costing at least $600 million by 2010, Gerardo Laviste, SMI resident manager, said.
KORONADAL CITY (MindaNews/07 November) — The National Commission on Indigenous Peoples (NCIP) in Southwestern Mindanao (Region 12) has manifested its opposition to a mining firm’s policy on hiring Lumads (indigenous peoples), claiming the hiring standards are “too high” the Lumads won’t qualify.
DAVAO CITY (MindaNews/05 November) — Mines and Geo-sciences Bureau regional chief Edilberto Arreza says they now tell investors about possible opposition to mining projects from the Lumads (indigenous people) unlike in the past when they were silent about this.
DAVAO CITY (MindaNews/27 October) — The Department of Environment and Natural Resources this week flaunted to investors from the East ASEAN Growth Area (EAGA) five potential "high interest" mining areas in Mindanao.
GENERAL SANTOS CITY (MindaNews/26 Oct) – Mining firm Sagittarius Mines Inc. (SMI) will not be encroaching into any declared protected area once the company begins full blast copper and gold mining operations within the next three years.
GENERAL SANTOS CITY (MindaNews/25 October) – Xstrata Copper, the fourth largest global copper producer will be pouring at least P1 billion for the extended pre-feasibility study on the copper and gold deposits in its minesite in Tampakan.
TAMPAKAN, South Cotabato (for MindaNews/ 20 October) – Anxiety and concerns are nearing boiling point in this placid town of Tampakan in South Cotabato. Above its rustic plains and beyond its surrounding lush mountains, a gathering storm and an expectant wait are brewing.
DAVAO CITY (MindaNews/10 October) — A dialogue between officials of the Sagittarius Mines, Inc. and its workers has been set for Saturday, October 13, South Cotbato Governor Daisy Avance-Fuentes said.
BUTUAN CITY (MindaNews/09 October) — Two weeks after its closure, a firm operating small-scale mining of nickel in Tubay, Agusan del Norte is now trying to secure a large-scale mining permit over the same area but an environmentalist group is blocking the plan.
DAVAO CITY(MindaNews/09 October) — The padlocks and roadblocks set up by disgruntled workers at the Sagittarius Mines, Incorporated’s (SMI) main office in Tampakan, South Cotabato on October 1 have been removed following Thursday’s meeting between SMI representatives and the acting mayor and vice mayor.
TAMPAKAN, South Cotabato (MindaNews/3 Oct) — Workers of a huge mining firm here practically stopped the company’s operations when they padlocked the main office and put up roadblocks to express their disgust over management’s alleged policy of not granting regular status to workers.
KIDAPAWAN CITY (MindaNews/11 July) — North Cotabato vice-governor Manny Pinol, chair of the province’s legislative body, has urged the national government to reconsider its aggressive stand on getting more mining operations in the country saying it will only aggravate global warming.
GENERAL SANTOS CITY (MindaNews/25 June) – As the father vowed, so did the son.
Newly-elected mayor Bienvenido Barroso, son of three-term mayor Claudio Barroso, has assured Sagittarius Mines, Inc that his administration would fully support the firm’s gold and copper mining operations.
GENERAL SANTOS CITY (MindaNews/22 January) — Efforts to get the local Catholic Church to support the huge mining venture in Tampakan, South Cotabato have proved futile as calls to stop the project were repeatedly aired instead.
KORONADAL CITY (MindaNews/16 January) – A tunnel operated by a Canadian-backed mining firm in the gold rush site of T’boli, South Cotabato and another tunnel operated by a cooperative of small-scale mining operators collapsed a few days ago, prompting the provincial government to send a team to evacuate residents to safer grounds.
DAVAO CITY (MindaNews/13 January) — Eleven small-scale gold miners in Nabunturan town, Compostela valley were rescued Friday by co-workers 10-hours after they were trapped in a tunnel amid heavy rains, the Office of the Civil Defense reported.
