Berong mine to undergo six-year rehabilitation

BERONG Nickel Corp. (BNC) has allocated P110 million for the six-year rehabilitation of a nickel mine in Quezon, Palawan that is expected to be fully depleted by end-2021.

“Most of the budget will be used to stabilize the mined out area through benching, drainage construction and planting of endemic and indigenous trees,” said DMCI Holdings, Inc., the parent firm of DMCI Mining Corp., in a disclosure to the stock exchange on Wednesday.

DMCI Mining has majority interest in the company behind the Berong mine, which will be decommissioned.

“Our end goal is to restore and enhance the mined land so its economic and ecological value is similar to, if not better than, when we started operations in the area,” DMCI Mining President Tulsi Das C. Reyes said in the disclosure.

BNC’s rehabilitation will cover 109 hectares of surface mine, 209 hectares of silt control structures, and 25 hectares of stockpile area.

DMCI Holdings said the rehabilitated areas can soon after be used by the Department of Environment and Natural Resources, local government units, and host communities for eco-tourism, agro-forestry, and inland fish farming activities.

It added that about 14 hectares of mine access road will also be rehabilitated and will afterwards be turned over to the community in Quezon town for its use.

The rehabilitation process, the company said, is expected to generate about 135 jobs.

The Berong mine started operations in October 2006 and has yielded P10.3-million wet metric tons of nickel ore and has generated mining duties, royalties and taxes amounting to P2.6 billion.

The mine also generated 1,634 direct and indirect jobs.

Shares in DMCI Holdings at the stock exchange declined by 1.84% or 15 centavos to close at P7.99 apiece on Wednesday. — Bianca Angelica D. Añago