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Nickel Asia faces audit, possible project halt

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Joel Guinto, ABS-CBN News

<div class="embed-wrap"><figure data-feedback="fb:likes,fb:comments"><img src="http://sa.kapamilya.com/absnews/abscbnnews/media/2016/business2/07/08/gina-lopez_070816.jpg"/><figcaption><div class="embed-desc">Environment Secretary Gina Lopez. <em>File Photo</em></div></figcaption></figure></div><p>MANILA - Nickel Asia Corp. is undergoing a government audit for compliance with safety standards and one of its operations faces possible suspension, Environment Secretary Gina Lopez said Wednesday.</p><p>Initial reports showed that the company took &quot;too much&quot; nickel ore from Manicani Island off Leyte Gulf and shipped around 400,000 tons to China, &quot;disturbing the ecology&quot; of the place, Lopez told reporters.</p><div class="embed-wrap"><figure data-feedback="fb:likes,fb:comments"><img src="http://sa.kapamilya.com/absnews/abscbnnews/media/news-special1/nation/07/20/072016_tuba.jpg"/><figcaption><div class="embed-desc">A Rio Tuba mine pit. <em>Photo courtesy of Nickel Asia Corp.</em></div></figcaption></figure></div><p>Lopez said she met with Nickel Asia President Gerardo Brimo early Wednesday to &quot;discuss the audit.&quot; She said she would visit the company&#x27;s Rio Tuba mine.</p><p>&quot;I voiced to him my concern and he explained himself and now we have the audit,&quot; she said.</p><p>&quot;If, after scientific assessment and social assessment, it has been found in all honesty, accuracy of data that it is not in the interest of the island to continue getting the soil there and bringing it to China, I am bound by duty by my conscience and my sense of principal and the law to follow the audit,&quot; she said.</p><p>Asked what consequence this would have on the project, Lopez said: &quot;Suspend operations.&quot;</p><blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p dir="ltr" lang="en">DENR Sec. Gina Lopez speaks at FINEX event, wants to partner with civil society groups. <a href="https://t.co/SHqIQ7ESUG">pic.twitter.com/SHqIQ7ESUG</a></p>— Jekki Pascual (@jekkipascual) <a href="https://twitter.com/jekkipascual/status/755630381920034816">July 20, 2016</a></blockquote><script async="" src="~//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charSet="utf-8" type="text/javascript"></script><p>Nickel Asia shares were down 3.64 percent to P5.83 in late trading Wednesday.</p><p>Lopez said Nickel Asia might be ordered to return to the soil 1.4 million tons of nickel ore in its stockpile.</p><p>&quot;They have to use it for mine restoration. &#x27;Di ba nag-explore sila? Tapos may butas diyan, kinukuha nila stockpile dinagdag sa China, why don&#x27;t they put it back in the hole,&quot; she said.</p><div><strong>NICKEL ASIA: LOPEZ NOT AGAINST MINING</strong></div><p>Nickel Asia, in a statement Wednesday, confirmed that its officials met with the new environment secretary.</p><p>“NAC confirms that we had a cordial and productive meeting with Sec. Lopez today to discuss mining issues. She stressed that she was not against mining,&quot; the company said.</p><p>&quot;She has accepted our offer to visit our Rio Tuba mine in southern Palawan, which was the recipient of the Presidential Mineral Industry Environmental Award given last year during the 62nd Annual National Mine Safety and Environment Conference, and which has obtained its ISO 14001 Certification,&quot; it added.</p><p>Nickel Asia said that regarding the Manicani issue, its subsidiary Hinatuan Mining Corp. has not engaged in mining since the late 1990s and was ordered by the DENR-MGB last year to remove the stockpiles of mostly low grade limonite ore that accumulated during the mining operations.</p><p>&quot;NAC stressed to Sec. Lopez that the removal of the stockpiles is the right thing to do from an environmental perspective, as it will do away with any potential environmental impacts that such stockpiles might pose, while at the same time providing badly needed employment and tax revenues. We have not received any order from the DENR-MGB to cease the removal of the stockpiles,&quot; the company added.</p><p>&quot;It should be noted that Manicani was the first landfall of super typhoon Yolanda in Nov. 8, 2013, which devastated the island and caused considerable hardships to its 2,500 residents. Hinatuan Mining and its parent company Nickel Asia spent over P80 million in calamity support, including a cash-for-work program amounting to P25 million and the rebuilding of 500 homes, water facilities, and damaged schools and churches,&quot; Nickel Asia said.</p>

(UPDATED) Nickel Asia Corp. is undergoing a government audit for compliance with safety standards and one of its operations faces possible suspension, Environment Secretary Gina Lopez said Wednesday.

Nickel Asia faces audit, possible project halt

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Nickel Asia faces audit, possible project halt

Joel Guinto,

ABS-CBN News

Published Jul 20, 2016 03:50 PM PHT

|

Updated Jul 20, 2016 09:35 PM PHT

Read More:

mining

Nickel Asia

Gina Lopez

companies

Department of Environment and Natural Resources

rio tuba

china

exports

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