PROMT: Philippines Remediation of Mine Tailings

In the Philippines, mining provides mineral resources that serve as raw materials for the manufacturing, construction, utilities as well as the services sectors. It is also a major contributor of foreign currency through the exports of mineral ore and other processed and semi-processed mineral products and provides employment to local communities where the only source of economic activity is mining operations. Although the industry produces output and provides employment, it also destroys the environment through deforestation, and the loss of vegetation and biodiversity. It alters the land and the natural terrain due to open pit mining, soil erosion, and river pollution. Furthermore, mining produces large amount of tailings and wastes that have major environmental impacts. But for the past 3 decades, there were incidents involving spillover of mine wastes/tailings and tailings pond collapse that caused serious environmental and economic impacts to local communities.

Innovation to develop more sustainable approaches to tailings management is clearly needed: more environmentally benign ways to reprocess tailings, ideally in situ and under vegetation, perhaps even in some cases mining in situ to avoid producing tailings at all; new approaches to understand the processes occurring within TSF, in particular the hydrology; more holistic approaches to promote the development of vegetation and associated ecosystems on spent tailings. Through our proposed project, we will deliver the fundamental science to underpin such innovation, combining interdisciplinary expertise and novel ideas. We aim to achieve impact across the Philippine mining industry by working on the three key commodities - Cu, Au and Ni that make up 99% of the production value of metallic minerals in the country. Hence, this study will help increase the confidence in mining sector and decrease the conflict with local communities by the development of social license to operate.

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