New mining technology to be introduced in Cordillera

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BAGUIO CITY — The Department of Science and Technology (DOST) Cordillera and the University of the Philippines (UP) – Diliman and Philippine Council for Industry and Energy Research Development (PCIERD) will test on field the Integrated Gold-Copper Mineral Processing Plant.

DOST Cordillera regional director Julius Caesar Sicat, in an interview on Saturday, said the department would introduce a mineral processing technology that helps the country’s small scale mining communities to have a better recovery from gold ore and achieve an environment-friendly mining industry.

Sicat said the project, which is the first in the Philippines , aimed to solve the long-time mining problem, which is the use of Cyanide and Mercury that leads to incident of poisoning.

With the technology developed by UP Diliman, small-scale miners can improve the recovery of gold and have a better mining environment, Sicat said.

The technology UP-Diliman developed can environmentally optimize the recovery of gold and other metals by using gravity concentration and flotation, refining gold concentrates and application of integrated disposal and treatment of tailing materials.

“This is a simple technology where by using the physical property of gold, we can improve the recovery of gold by 80 to 90 percent. We can also reduce the hazard as the processing will be without sanitation or amalgamation”, Sicat said.

“Our vision here is to promote a responsible small scale mining industry that utilizes the country’s mineral resources while providing economic stability and ensuring environmental sustainability”, Sicat said.