Greenpeace activists unfurl a banner

The conclusion of Lafayette’s 30-day mock test run signals the dawn of an impending oceans catastrophe. The gold mine has already leaked cyanide and other toxics into the oceans, creating fish kills and the local people now fear what will happen to their marine environment which for many of them is their only means of survival. Locals are protesting and calling for  international solidarity.

Related links: A short documentary posted to Indymedia Manila | Greenpeace Defending Our Oceans | Greenpeace Southeast Asia

End of Lafayette’s test run marks start of oceans disaster
Did you know that to mine 750 kg of gold, you need to use 125 tons of poisonous natrium cyanide in the process? Despite strong opposition from local and national groups, the Philippine government allowed the Australian firm Lafayette to start the extraction of gold, silver, copper and zinc in April 2005 on the picturesque island of Rapu Rapu.

The local people who are opposing the mine are calling for international help to sign this petition to the President Arroyo to close the mine and tell the mining company Lafayette to clean up the site.

Lafayette was ordered to halt its operations late last year after two mine spills released cyanide and other contaminants from the mine and into the sea around the island, causing massive fish kills. Subsequent investigations by a Presidential Factfinding Committee in April-May 2006 revealed admissions from Lafayette officials that the company had been mining beyond its capacity even while the structural safeguards meant to minimize environmental damage were not yet completed. The DENR, however, allowed Lafayette to continue operations despite these lapses by granting the company a 30-day test run on July 11, 2006.

The conclusion of Lafayette’s 30-day mock test run signals the dawn of an impending oceans catastrophe. Local Greenpeace activists protested on the roof of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) building in Quezon City and unfurled a giant banner with the words "Lafayette Mining: Countdown to an Oceans Disaster," in protest over the conduct of the 30-day test run granted by the DENR to Lafayette Mining which the group denounced as a complete charade.

A leak occurred during operations two days into the test run, but the DENR was quick to dismiss this as a minor incident. Less than two weeks later on July 18, 2006, residents reported a fish kill in the island’s Mirikpitik creek. Residents have since reported more fishkills in creeks leading out from the mine into the sea, but so far, aside from dismissing the incidents as results of "sabotage," there has been no active and convincing response on the part of the company and the DENR to verify and explain these reports.

"If it proved anything at all, this test run demonstrated very clearly that the government will do everything, including turning a blind eye to what is now shaping up as another disaster in the making. The pretense involved in the test run is so obvious, nobody is deceived by it," Greenpeace Southeast Asia campaigner Beau Baconguis stated.

Moreover, the heavy presence of military, police, and private security around the island, including in small, remote barangays located well beyond the mine’s boundaries, believe DENR’s and Lafayette’s claims of full transparency during the 30-day test run. Monitoring and inspection by independent parties concerned about the negative effects of the mining operation are actively discouraged and even prevented . When Greenpeace sent out their employee to take water samples from a creek on public land near the mine, he was arrested and later harassed by police, military and security personnel and the water samples were confiscated. Meanwhile, in Rapu Rapu Island as well as in Legaspi, inquiries at local government offices regarding the composition of the DENR-appointed mine monitoring committee during the test run have been unsatisfactory.

“Controversies have shrouded Lafayette’s test run from the beginning, but the most glaring of all is its total lack of transparency,” said Baconguis, “This bodes ill for the future of the fragile marine environment that surrounds Rapu Rapu, and the people who depend on it—that is, unless the DENR finally acts in the interest of the environment rather than for myopic corporate and economic interests.”

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