Aussie miner battles to gain residents’ trust in Philippines
Filed under: Mine - RapuRapu, Mineral - Copper, Mineral - Gold, Mineral - Silver, Mineral - Tin, Mineral - Zinc, Operator - Lafayette, Operator - RRMI, Operator - RRPI, Operator - RapuRapu Mining, Region 05 - Masbate
Rapu-Rapu, Philippines - When Australia’s Lafayette Mining Ltd began its polymetallic mining operations on the eastern Philippine island of Rapu-Rapu two years ago, it was met with stiff resistance from residents and environmental activists.
‘They are not welcome here,’ Domingo Guinan, a 40-year-old fisherman and farmer, said as he bluntly voiced out his opposition to Lafayette’s mining project.Â
Guinan lamented that previous mining activities on the scenic island, with its rolling hills and crystal blue waters, have only left the people more impoverished and the environment devastated.
‘A few kilometres from the current Lafayette mine is an old mine tunnel, which was abandoned in the mid-1900s. Until now the water surrounding this mine site is still toxic,’ he told Deutsche Presse- Agentur dpa.
‘All the promises that mining would improve our standard of living have never been fulfilled,’ he added. ‘Worse, we were the ones left to suffer the consequences of the environmental destruction like the toxic water near the old mine.’
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