Francis P. Patlunag

BSME- 3

‘Illegal’ gold mining in Leyte, Philippines

Monday, Jan 16, 2012

TACLOBAN CITY-The Mines and Geosciences Bureau (MGB) in Eastern Visayas is investigating the reported illegal gold mining activities in Southern Leyte and in Eastern Samar.

MGB Regional Director Roger De Dios said they have to look into these illegal mining activities as these could trigger landslides just like what happened in Compostela Valley province.

De Dios said a report received by his office showed there were illegal gold mining activities in San Ricardo and Saint Bernard, both in Southern Leyte, and in Balangiga, Eastern Samar.

Balangiga Mayor Viscuso De Lira said he had informed the MGB office about gold extraction in his town.

De Lira, in a phone interview, said gold panning in his town were located in barangays (villages) Cag-olango and Guinmaayohan, both upstream villages.

Cag-olango is about 9 kilometers away from the town center with more than 600 residents while Guinmaayohan has over 1,500 residents and is 12 km from the town proper.

“I sought assistance from the MGB as to the best way to address this concern. I have yet to make a move like for a possible relocation of the people in these areas,” De Lira said.

He said he could not just order the people there to relocate as it would also mean economic dislocation for them.

Residents in these villages rely on farming as their main livelihood source but with a high price of gold at P1,800 per ounce, there is now a scramble among the people there to conduct the gold panning, the town mayor said.

Given the chance, he said he would like to see the people in these areas to be relocated to a safer place considering the danger of landslides.

“That (landslide) is a possibility considering that Eastern Visayas has been identified as among the country’s landslide-prone regions and with our present weather condition,” De Dios said.

For several days now, the region has been experiencing heavy rains, a weather condition that could trigger landslide or flash flood incidents.

The MGB-8 has listed 2,531 barangays across the region considered “susceptible” to landslide incidents.

“Although mining-related activities is part of the supervisory functions of the MGB, they (local governments) should help us especially those small-scale activities like gold panning,” De Dios said, adding that the local police could help stop the illegal mining.

Source:

http://news.asiaone.com/News/AsiaOne+News/Asia/Story/A1Story20120116-322119.html

Illegal mining is a very rampant in the Philippines because the Philippine is rich minirals. Illegal mining have a great effect in our environmetal aand it causes land pollution of improper disposal of chemicals that they used in processing ores. It also causes land erosion.

What are the consequences of land pollution?

Land pollution can affect wildlife, plants, and humans in a number of ways, such as:

Cause problems in the respiratory system

*Due to many garbage and other things that causes land pollution that are harmful specially in breathing,it had a abd effect to uor health.

Cause problems on the skin

*It damages are skin or it may create disease because of improper disposal of garbages and chemicals that are harmful to us.

Lead to birth defects

*Lead to birth defects because of improper disposal of chemicals and garbages.

Cause various kinds of cancers

The toxic materials that pollute the soil can get into the human body directly by:

Coming into contact with the skin

Being washed into water sources like reservoirs and rivers

Eating fruits and vegetables that have been grown in polluted soil

Breathing in polluted dust or partic

Soil

Soil is a natural body consisting of layers (soil horizons) that are primarily composed of minerals which differ from their parent materials in their texture, structure, consistency, colour, chemical, biological and other characteristics. It is the unconsolidated or loose covering of fine rock particles that covers the surface of the earth.Soil is the end product of the influence of the climate (temperature, precipitation), relief (slope), organisms (flora and fauna), parent materials (original minerals), temperature, and time. In engineering, soil is referred to as regolith, or loose rock material. Strictly speaking, soil is the depth of regolith that influences and has been influenced by plant roots and may range in depth from centimetres to many metres.
Soil is composed of particles of broken rock (parent materials) which have been altered by chemical and mechanical processes that include weathering (disintegration) with associated erosion (movement). Soil is altered from its parent material by the interactions between the lithosphere, hydrosphere, atmosphere, and biosphere. It is a mixture of mineral and organic materials in the form of solids, gases and liquids. Soil is commonly referred to as "earth" or "dirt"; technically, the term "dirt" should be restricted to displaced soil.

Soil forms a structure filled with pore spaces and can be thought of as a mixture of solids, water, and air (gas). Accordingly, soils are often treated as a three-state system. Most soils have a density between 1 and 2 g/cm³. Little of the soil of planet Earth is older than the Pleistocene and none is older than the Cenozoic, although fossilised soils are preserved from as far back as the Archean.

*While land is the solid part of the surface of the earth and ground of a specefied situation,nature or quality.

Read more: http://wiki.answers.com/Q/What_are_the_consequences_of_land_pollution#ixzz252xl5I5V