In December 2001, Canadian mining company Placer Dome suddenly pulled its personnel out of the Philippines. In fleeing the country in this manner, it abandoned its commitments to clean up a river filled with toxic mine waste and to compensate villagers affected by a tailing spill disaster in 1996 at the company’s Marcopper Mine on the island of Marinduque.
Placer Dome’s sudden decision to leave the Philippines came after a Philippine Congressional Inquiry on October 9, 2001, which was called by the Committee on Ecology to review complaints about delays in the clean-up of the river. In 1996, Placer Dome’s then-CEO John Willson made a written commitment to then-Philippine President Fidel Ramos that Placer Dome would oversee a complete clean-up of the Boac River, as well as other affected areas, and that the company would ensure compensation for affected residents. This promise was reflected in legal agreements Placer Dome entered into. The lack of progress on these commitments led to the Congressional Inquiry.
The evening before the Congressional Inquiry, disturbing information was leaked about a report commissioned by Placer Dome and carried out by Vancouver Engineering firm Klohn Crippen. This report warns of structural weaknesses in five mine structures that hold back toxic waste in the mountains of Marinduque, two of which are called acutely dangerous. A letter by Klohn Crippen of August 23, 2001 warns that there is “urgency related to potential human injury concerns.” The letter notes of one dam that “failure of the dam is a virtual certainty in the near term” leading to “potential loss of life.” Of a weak tunnel, the report adds that its collapse has a “high probability” and would “threaten the safety of any mine personnel that might be in the vicinity when the failure occurred” and that there is further likelihood of “downstream damage and loss of life” related to the collapse of this tunnel. Residents had been made aware of the existence of this report in the spring and both they and MiningWatch Canada had made repeated formal requests to Placer Dome for a copy of the report. These requests were turned down.
The Klohn Crippen report was delivered to Placer Dome on June 14, 2001 but its details were only revealed when Klohn Crippen’s letter of August 23, 2001 was leaked on the evening before the Congressional Inquiry. Even though the Klohn Crippen report was delivered to Placer Dome on June 14, 2001, Placer Dome did nothing to warn the people of Marinduque about the danger they face, and did nothing to implement the report’s recommendations.
Days after the Congressional Inquiry, on October 11, 2001, Secretary Heherson T. Alvarez of the Philippine Department of Environment and Natural Resources ordered Placer Dome to commence implementation of the recommendations in the Klohn Crippen report within 15 days or face criminal action. In December, rather than comply with this order, Placer Dome quite suddenly pulled its personnel out of Marinduque and out of Manila without any consultation with elected officials or local stakeholders in Marinduque.
Marinduquenos live in fear of the next tropical storm that might collapse one or more of the unstable dams in the mountains, unleasing tons of toxic mine waste on lower lying villages. They also worry about whether the toxic waste that is killing the Boac River will ever be removed. Placer Dome’s Jay Taylor has denied responsibility for his company’s legacy in the Philippines, saying that the company’s pullout “closes the chapter on this whole story” (Globe and Mail December 18, 2001).
