‘… Rio Tuba … is proud of its roots, prouder of its accomplishments, and happy to do its share in spreading the word that the Philippine mining industry is teeming with responsible operations that can be considered the best in class in our region, if not (or at least not yet) in the world.’
LAST week, I had the chance to join the orientation of some guests of Rio Tuba Nickel Mining Corporation (RTNMC, or RTN) in Bataraza, Palawan — two separate groups that were seeing the operations for the first time, or for the first time after a long while.
The first group consisting of three visitors were actually three of the “newest” (or shall I say youngest?) members of the Board of Directors of Nickel Asia (NAC), the parent company of RTN. As members of the Board, it was important that they had at least a view from 35,000 feet from where to see the breadth of the operations of NAC’s oldest and for the longest time most productive and profitable nickel mine. They were given a short briefing at the RTN conference room of what the operations are all about as well as a shortened version of its history, plus how it evolved over the years from the time the operations were established in the late 1960s to the time it started shipping saprolite (or high grade) ore to Japan in 1977 to the present.
The 30-minute briefing and safety orientation was followed by an actual tour of the mining area, including a tour of a mined-out area we call GP-4 (Gintalunan Pit 4, if I am not mistaken) that had been transformed into a forest after rehabilitation. This was followed by a short drive to the RTN townsite, a UP-campus like community where the employees live with their families in mostly single-detached homes and, just as importantly, where you can find the RTN Hospital and the Leonides S. Virata Memorial School (LSVMS), which offers grade school and high school classes to deserving children/dependents of employees and qualified outsiders. This school was under the supervision of De La Salle University for almost 30 years before finally “graduating” this year from the LASSO program of the La Salle Brothers.
The LSVMS is always a kicker for every mine tour, for the simple reason that it has two computer labs, one for grade school students and one for Grades 9 and 10 students — and the labs have 50 iMac desktops each. The lab tour almost never fails in leaving visitors a tad envious of the learning facilities that are made available to the kids at Rio Tuba.
Just as the first batch of visitors were leaving for Manila, a second batch arrived, consisting of a mining engineer, a public affairs manager and a geologist representing a mining operation that is seeking the necessary permits to operate, plus their local Catholic priest who was in charge of the social justice activities of the diocese of his area and who wanted to see for himself the much-touted RTN operations.
If you notice, I have not given out any details of this second batch and this is intentional, as I wouldn’t wish to put any of them in a spot. But if and when they read this, they’ll know who they are (he-he).
Their purpose in this trip to RTN was to verify and validate the information they have received from various sources (even salesclerks in some mall stores in Puerto Princesa, they tell me) that claim that RTN is one good example of how mining can be done responsibly.
Understandably, the priest, whom I will call Fr. Rick, had a barrage of questions. We tried to answer some during the briefing — the same audio video presentation that we had given the members of the NAC Board earlier in the morning. But there were other questions that could only be answered by a “show and tell,” for what better way to prove to Doubting Thomases, yes, than for them to see for themselves?
It was easy to understand why so much doubt exists, and persists. And that’s why we welcomed the chance to show these visitors around.
In the end, I am told that the good Father only had nice things to say about what he saw, claiming he was “enlightened,” and asking if he could bring over a bigger bunch of fellow priests, and even the bishop. I don’t think RTN will mind.
And why not? As the winner of the first ever Asean Mineral Awards given out in 2017 by the Ministers of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, and a five-time winner of the Presidential Mineral Industry Environmental Award (PMIEA), Rio Tuba, whom we have dubbed “Asean’s Best,” is proud of its roots, prouder of its accomplishments, and happy to do its share in spreading the word that the Philippine mining industry is teeming with responsible operations that can be considered the best in class in our region, if not (or at least not yet) in the world.