Lafayette close to reopening minewww.theage.com.auBy Barry...

Lafayette close to reopening mine
www.theage.com.au

By Barry Fitzgerald
May 22, 2006
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MELBOURNE-based Lafayette is banking on getting government approval this week to re-open its environmentally controversial Rapu Rapu base-metals mine in the Philippines.

Hopes that the approval would be forthcoming improved on the weekend when the Philippines Government turned its back on recommendations made by the Rapu-Rapu Fact-Finding Commission, headed by anti-mining bishop Arturo Bastes of Sorsogon.

The commission, created in response to last year's toxic spills at Rapu Rapu and a call from the Ca tholic Church for a country-wide ban on mining, said in its report, released on Friday, that Rapu Rapu should be closed for environmental violations and that a review of provisions in the Philippine Mining Act covering the ownership and management of mining firms and operations should be undertaken.

But the Government said that a ban on mining was not the answer. "Standards and safeguards already in place and existing laws must be strictly enforced," spokesman Ignacio Bunye said.

"Mining remains a priority area of development," he said. It would be a disservice to our people if our full mineral potential is not realised, because this is clearly a source of employment and development."

Lafayette said the Bastes report was "unscientific and reflects a biased approach to mining generally".

"It also avoids acknowledging the widespread community and local government support that our project enjoys and the benefits to the local community that will be lost if the project is prevented from demonstrating that our environmental management systems meet best practice," it said.

Lafayette said it now expected that the Government's Pollution Adjudication Board would be permitted to consider approval of its application for a temporary lifting order on its merits, clearing the way for a return to production.

Processing at Rapu Rapu stopped in November while two spills from the tailings system at the new polymetallic operation were investigated. An independent environmental audit committee gave the mine a clean bill of health in late December but the Government delayed a restart so that that the country's anti-mining brigade could have its say.

The forced closure stressed Lafayette's finances, forcing the need for a recent $42 million rescue package and a management reshuffle.