LISTED Lepanto Consolidated Mining Co. told the stock exchange Monday that the Office of the President (OP) has lifted its suspension order imposed by former Environment Secretary Regina Paz L. Lopez.

The firm said it received yesterday the Oct. 12-dated letter which gave Lepanto six months from receipt “to implement appropriate mitigating measures.”

The OP also ordered the company to pay the Mines and Geosciences Bureau and the Environmental Management Bureau P27,275 and P100,000, respectively.

In a text message, Lepanto Consolidated Vice-President and Assistant Corporate Secretary Odette A. Javier said the decision “followed the recommendation of the Technical Review Committee in February 2017” to impose fines on the company due to “minor lapses” at its gold-copper project in Benguet.

In addition, the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) is ordered to task the appropriate bureau under its purview to conduct a probe and submit a report on the results of the firm’s corrective measures to comply with the OP conclusion.

The firm filed its notice of appeal before the OP last Feb. 14 — the same day it received the DENR’s suspension order — and appeal memorandum on March 15.

Lepanto Consolidated is only one of several miners that sought for the OP’s intervention to hold in abeyance staunch environmentalist Ms. Lopez’ order to suspend and shutter 26 mines last February.

The decision was based on the findings of the DENR’s seven-month audit that miners questioned in terms of the procedures the agency adopted and the identity of the authorities steering the audit.

The orders were also anchored on the DENR’s view that mining should not operate in any functional watersheds, a rule miners found lacking of any legal basis but the agency still forged when it cancelled the 75 permits of miners still undergoing pre-operation activities.

The DENR’s legal division earlier said over ten miners have rest their cases at the OP while others filed appeals at the Office of the Environment Secretary.

BusinessWorld reached out on Monday to Palace officials to inquire if Lepanto Consolidated is the first of the sanctioned mines it has relieved of the suspension order but received no response.

The OP’s decision comes before the Mining Industry Coordinating Council’s own review of all existing mines, with priority to be given to the 26 that were affected by Ms. Lopez’s order. — Janina C. Lim

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