LEGAZPI CITY, Albay (PIA) -- A new tourist destination site will rise at the Rapu-Rapu mining site once fully rehabilitated.
“Seeing the beauty of the place, it can become a new tourist destination in Rapu-Rapu. The place is very beautiful. It has a big potential. It’s not just the landscape, it’s also the sea,” Mines and Geoscience Bureau Bicol Director Guillermo A. Molina Jr. IV said during the recent onsite inspection.
As of June 2022, the MGB has reported 89.87% physical accomplishment, with the open pit, lower tailing storage facility and bioreactor activities still unfinished.
“At the beginning I also have doubts but when I witnessed with my very own eyes the changes since 2019 until today, there’s a huge difference. So, I’m seeing that the mine will be fully rehabilitated 100%,” Mines and Geoscience Bureau Bicol Director Guillermo A. Molina Jr. IV said.
Molina said based on the rehabilitation plan, the area is targeted to become an agroforest and eco-tourism site.
“Pagcolbon is a good area for diving and surfing. All we have to do is to connect it by infrastructure, basic services to the rest of the mainland of Albay,” he added.
The bioreactor facility at the Rapu-Rapu Minerals Inc which neutralizes the toxic end-products from the mining operation is set to be finished this year as part of the rehabilitation plan.
Malubago, Pagcolbon and Binusawan are the barangays covered by the mining site.
Molina said the Rapu-Rapu Mettallic Inc has a two-year rehabilitation plan but it has been delayed due to combination of issues and concerns. The rehab is currently on its 8th year since 2014.
Soil acidity is part of these issues.
“The area has high soil acidity that’s why the planted trees and plants keeps on dying. It’s a mineralized area that’s why only the cogon grass survived since it is resilient to highly acidic soil,” he said.
With the highly acidic soil, plants and trees planted in some areas at the former mining site of the Rapu-Rapu Mining Inc eventually withered and died while the acidic-resilient cogon grass survived and flourished.
Based on the fund utilization report of the MGB, the Rapu-Rapu Mettallic Inc has spent P654 million for rehabilitation as of 2022, which has exceeded the P310 million total allotted fund for final mine rehab and decommissioning. (PIA5/Albay)
