Nov 302013
 

The Mines and Geosciences Bureau expects to buy 15 ground-penetrating radars next year to help map areas prone to flooding and landslides.

The purchase is included in the agency’s proposed budget for 2014 and the new radars will be used to produce a 1:10,000 geohazard map by next year, bureau dorector Leo Jasareno said.

The new maps are expected to replace the current 1:50,000 goehazard maps distributed to local governments. 

The MGB only has one functioning ground-penetrating radar and has had to hire private surveyors to help with the mapping.

Mapping across 1,034 cities and municipalities should be completed by the end of the year, leaving 600 more cities and towns to map in 2014.

The mapping of geohazard areas in 1,034 cities and municipalities are seen to be completed by by the end of the year while detailing for 600 cities and municipalities are expected to be completed by next year. 

The portable radars, which cost around P6 million each and will help engineers see underground, are part of the P400-million mapping project.

The bureau will also map coastal areas prone to erosion to define no-build zones.

“If people are conscious about geohazard, fatalities in times of natural disasters would be greatly reduced,” Jasareno said.

The MGB will also conduct a hydrological assessment project to find aquifers, or underground sources of water. — JDS, GMA News

May 092013
 
Philex to complete new tailings pond before rainy season

MANILA, Philippines –  Philex Mining Corp. said yesterday that it would be able to complete the construction of the new spillway for the compromised tailings pond of its Padcal copper-gold mine in Benguet before the onset of the rainy season. In a statement, the company said that the spillway, which will drain water from the broken tailings pond no. 3 (TP3), is seen to be completed by the end of June. The open spillway would replace the pond’s underground drainage system which was damaged last year, causing a massive tailings spill. The spillway would drain non-toxic water from the pond into the Agno River via the Maligaboy Creek and Balog Creek. Excessive water in the pond could cause the crest of its embankment to slump and trigger the release of water and sediment into the environs of the mine. Philex said that once completed, the spillway could channel as much as 1,000 millimeter of rain over a 24-hour period – equivalent to about two times the amount of rainfall brought about by the 2009 typhoon “Ondoy,” whose downpour brought 455 millimeters of rain over a 24-hour period. Business ( Article MRec ), pagematch: 1, sectionmatch: 1 Philex is currently conducting a process called beaching to fill the conical void in tailings pond no. 3. The spillway would then drain water from the pond as fresh tailings are dumped into the pond. The government allowed the temporary resumption of operations in the Padcal mine to last March 8, seven months after Read More …