Zambo to earn P100T annually from gypsum mining

Zambo to earn P100T annually from gypsum mining

THE local government Zamboanga City is expected to earn at least P100,000 annually once mining operations starts in this city’s west coast.

The amount will come from payment of P25 per cubic meter of gypsum material extracted in addition to the two percent mandatory excise tax annually that will be paid to the local government.

The Alfranz Trading, owned by Emmanuel Yap, is applying for the extraction of gypsum material, a component used in the production of cement.

The extraction will be undertaken following a standard opencast mining procedure by manual labor using pick and shovel in which lose materials are dropped and stockpiled below the working bench after which it is loaded to a dump truck using a loader and transported to the stockyard located along the coast.

The company estimates the production of 50,000 metric tons of gypsum annually over a period of three years based on preliminary exploration activity it conducted.

The proposed site covers approximately 20 hectares and is within the Zamboanga Economic Zone and Free Port Authority (Zamboecozone) area.

Aside from the mandatory fees, Yap also promised to undertake rehabilitation activities by providing the contingent liability and rehab fund, provide job opportunities and livelihood activities to the people in the area.

Majority of the residents who attended the consultation headed by Mayor Celso Lobregat on Friday have expressed approval to the proposal citing the benefits that they can attain out of the project.

Fr. Nonoy de las Peã±as, Ayala parish priest, said the church in the west coast also interposes no objection to the project, as it would not affect the environment and that the owner vowed to provide all the benefits provided under the law.

Mayor Lobregat, who sits as the Mining Regulatory Board chairman of the city, requested the City Council to amend the mining law, setting the coverage of small scale mining activities to a maximum of 20 hectares from the present five-hectare limit.

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