Name: Siarza, Myko R.

Date: May 26, 2022

Subject: Mine Environmental Management Instructor: Engr. Alcleven B. Damalerio

Activiy #5 in Mine Environmental Management

Part 1: Make a summary of the following topics:

a) Sustainable Development.
Sustainable development is a type of development that many mining companies or other
businesses that affects or involves the environment from their operations. The main
objective of sustainable development is to produce or supply the demand of the present
needs of the society while not compromising the future generations to meet their own
needs. Sustainable development has three pillars that serve as a foundation to this
development program and these are (1) Human Beings, (2) Development, and (3)
Environment these three must align their objectives in order sustainable development a
success. Aside from the three pillars that serve as a foundation of sustainable
development it have also three major components that are very important because it is
like the indicator of the sustainable development program is effective or being imply to
the operation of a mining companies.
The following below are the three major components of sustainable development;
1.) Economic sustainability – It refers to the livelihood of the stakeholders if they can
still be able to find a source of income even if the operation of the mines is done.

2.) Social sustainability – It refers to the lives of stakeholders who are directly affected
to the operation of the mines if they are able to continue their daily lives despite the
operation is happening and also if the mining companies helped them to adjust to their
new surrounding especially the indigenous people.

3.) Environmental sustainability – It refers to the existing natural resources around the
mine if they are not affected to the operation or if the companies are able to preserve the
natural resources around the mine.

b) Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR)

Corporate Social Responsibility is a program where the companies and their stakeholders. It
is where they can integrate social and environmental concerns of the affected stakeholders
by this program it can strengthen the bond and trust of both parties especially the
stakeholders where they can get benefits in this program because by this program mining
 companies tend to aid the lacking of the affected area or people by building school
buildings, health center and etc. also mining companies also organized a livelihood
program, health related orientations which will be really helpful for the people who are
affected by their business.

c) Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA)

Environmental Impact Assessment is a universal requirement for businesses that can
directly affect the environment by their operations. It’s a process that predicts or assesses
the possible impacts of a proposed developmental project. It also includes the development
of appropriate preventive measure that will protect the environment from those identified
impacts. The proposed developmental project must also undergo into certain process or
screening in order to acquire Environmental Compliance Certificate (ECC) or
Certificate of Non-Coverage. The kind of certificate issued by the bureau will depends on
what category will the proposed project will fall. These are the steps that a proposed project
will undergo before acquiring the certificate;

Project Screening – It is the step of the EIA process where they identify the possible
adverse environmental impacts of the proposed project or if the proposed project is EIA
required or not

Scoping – It is the step where they address the crucial or important issues or impacts of the
proposed project and then, delimits the extent of baseline information to those necessary to
evaluate and mitigate the impacts.

Review and Evaluation – It is step of the EIA process where the review and evaluate the
proposed project if they obey the various steps or action to mitigate or eliminate those
possible impacts of the proposed project also it is where they determine if the project is
Environmentally Critical Project (ECP) or Environmentally Critical Area (ECA) kind of
project.

Decision – It is the final step of the EIA process where they decide if they will deny or
approve the application of the proposed project whether they issue an ECC or not.

d) Environmental Management System (EMS)

EMS is an independent non-governmental international organization that provides a
framework that an organization can follow rather than establishing their own environmental
performance requirements. It aims to improve the environmental management of a
company or organization and it is a voluntary standard that organization can certify to.
e) Mine and Mill Tailings
Bothe mine waste and mine tailings are hazardous materials that have been produced by the
operation of mine. Mine waste is the materials that have no economic value like soil, rock,
etc. Mill tailing is the materials that are segregated from the ores during the milling
operation it can be solid or liquid also it has no economic value just like the mine waste.
Both mine waste and mill tailings are problematic because of the harm they can cause if it’s
not handled carefully. It can cause disastrous events for both human and the environment
for instance it can cause acid rain if those acidic waster are oxidized, as we know that acid
rain can cause respiratory disease, or worst possible case is that if the mine and mill tailings
leak it can be catastrophic and affect a thousand lives both human and animals. That is why
the bureau established rules and regulation to protect the environment and the people from
these kinds of catastrophic events they set up some standards that mining companies must
follow. They demand annually or semi-annually fee to each operating mining companies
around the country in order to compensate for those damages caused by their operations.

f) Air Quality and Small Scale Mining

We know air is one of the primary necessity humans need in order to live aside from food
and water, which is why air quality management is very important in mine sites. Air quality
management is one of the many problems mining companies encountered as we know
mining operations emits a massive amount of dust which polluted the air that the employees
and the neighbouring communities can be inhaled and it could cause respiratory problems
in the long run. To reduced or control the dust that they emitted because it is impossible to
eliminate the dust that is produced by the mine operations that is why all mining companies
have dust control unit in order to minimized the dust it mains function is to dewater the
land, ways and the neighbouring communities that is affected by their operation by this
action they take they can minimized the dust the time interval of the dewatering of the area
affected on what they have planned so but for sure by 30-20 minutes because 1hr is long
enough to make it like a desert. Also the government established a republic act known as
Philippine Clean Air act of 1999 which mainly function is to provide a clean air for the
people to breath in and at the same time to attain sustainable development.

Small Scale Mining in the Philippines is really popular it is recognized by the government it
was recognized by the late president Ferdinand Marcos in 1984 due to its ability to provide
employments for the Filipinos because of its relies heavily on manual operation. Due to its
low capital cost compare to other mining operations many businessman engage in in SSM
also it only require a few heavy equipment during the operation. It produces less than
50,000 metric tons of run of mine ore annually and all of the gold produced by the small
scale miners will be sold to authorized dealers by Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas (BSP).
Despite its ability to generate employment it also has cons because some SSM employ an
underage child which is an act of child labor there are also illegal SSM operation that
 sometimes causes adverse effect on the environment because of these issue the bureau
establish some laws and regulation in order to prevent these scenarios. That is why there are
some areas in the Philippines that is recognized by the MGB under a law that is called as
Minahang Bayan which SSM is legally operate by these they can monitor the operations of
the SSM.

Part 2: Reflection on the subject and instructor.

I have learned a lot about the common issues or problem mining companies is facing and what
are the actions they have taken to resolve those issues or problems. This subject helps me to
realize more why we mining engineers exploit the environment why do we excavate the land,
removing the trees, etc. that were not just recklessly destroy a certain area that mining companies
also obeys law that were not violating others right especially those who are deeply affected by
the operations. Although we cannot deny the fact that there are some mining companies who are
illegally operating in our country who are violating not just the law but also the rights of the
people especially the Indigenous People because of these kind of operators who are operating
illegally many respectable mining companies who are legally operating and following the law
are being drag by these illegal operators resulting which gives the public an awful image to the
mining industry. I’ve learned all of this thanks to our instructor because due to his experiences in
the field we can really understand the subject and the topic that he discusses in the class also he
always make sure that we learned something by the end of his classes.