SEMIRARA MINING and Power Corp. (SMPC)’s rehabilitation efforts for the southern portion of its Panian pit reached P2.9 billion in 2018.
In a statement sent over the weekend, the Consunji-led energy firm said bulk of the spending went to the acquisition of dump trucks, excavators, and other support equipment at P1.83 billion. These helped facilitate the company’s stripping and hauling operations in Semirara Island.
More then P1 billion was spent for fuel, labor, and other cash needs.
The rehabilitation efforts address a 2017 order by the Department of Energy (DoE) to fast-track the backfilling of the southern portion of Panian pit, to be used as a model for open pit mine rehabilitation in the country. It follows a five-year work program and budget submitted to the DoE.
SMPC has since unloaded 120 million bank cubic meters (BCM) of overburden materials into the southern portion of Pania pit.
BCM refers to the volume of earth lying naturally that is neither loose nor compact due to mine-site activities such as excavation.
The pit’s current elevation is now at zero meters, significantly better than its starting elevation of negative 260 meters — about the same height as a 78-storey building.
The company will start putting humic acid, compost, and other materials once the pit is completely filled in. This will restore soil nutrients in the area before the company can proceed with reforestation. SMPC will then plant trees endemic and suitable to the area.
This rehabilitation aims to restore Panian’s original landscape that had open grasslands with a variety of trees and shrubs.
SMPC shut down operations in the Panian pit in September 2016, after the DoE certified the depletion of its mineable coal reserves. The company now has operations in the Molave and Narra pits.
The company saw its consolidated net income drop by 15% to P12 billion in 2018, after coal production declined two percent to 12.9 million metric tons. It attributed the slowdown to heavy rains experienced in the third quarter. — Arra B. Francia
