KORONADAL CITY— Small-time treasure hunters from the gold-rush town of T’boli, South Cotabato have reportedly invaded the mountains of Tampakan, beating a foreign-backed firm to the resources there.

“There are many mine workers from T’boli who transferred to Tampakan in search for gold. They have dug tunnels there,” treasure seekers who spoke on condition of anonymity said.

Some of the tunnels are allegedly inside the area of Sagittarius Mines, Inc., one of the sources said.

Sagittarius holds a financial and technical assistance agreement to extract copper and gold resources in the towns of Tampakan in South Cotabato, Columbio in Sultan Kudarat and Kiblawan in Davao del Sur.

The firm, which is largely owned by major global copper player Xstrata Copper, is still in the exploration stage and in the process of completing its final feasibility study worth $74 million. The study is expected to be finished by the first half of 2010.

Sought for comment Friday about the tunnel mining in Tampakan, John B. Arnaldo, Sagittarius corporate communications manager, said, “That’s totally not true.”

Still, he vowed the company “will look into the matter.”

The reported tunnel mining in Tampakan has become the second illegal mining activity monitored in the town.

In May, a Catholic Church-backed multi-sectoral inspection team found evidences of sluice mining within the mines development site of Sagittarius. Nobody was arrested during this operation in the village of Palo 19..

Sluice mining is locally called banlas and employs the pouring of large amounts of water on a mountain’s surface to extract the rocks containing the gold ore.

Last year, authorities filed cases against 26 individuals for allegedly engaging in sluice mining operations in Tampakan town. Warrants of arrest have been issued against them but none have reportedly been caught so far.

Ramon B. Ponce de Leon, South Cotabato Provincial Environment Management Office chief, has chided Sagittarius for apparently failing to stop illegal mining activities within the firm’s mines development site.

Aside from sluice mining, illegal logging is also rampant in the mines development site, according to Mr. Ponce de Leon.

Arnaldo earlier denied the company has been negligent in protecting its mines development site from illegal activities, particularly “banlas” mining.

“We have been in touch with the local government unit regarding these problems,” Arnaldo said.

But in a way, Arnaldo noted the existence of the sluice miners has proven that Sagittarius has not yet excavated the resources in the area, contrary to allegations that the firm is already shipping deposits abroad.

Sagittarius announced earlier it will need at least $5.2 billion for the project to go on commercial stream.

Based on the firm’s study, the Tampakan project contains 12.8 million metric tons of copper and 15.2 million ounces of gold.

Bishop Dinualdo D. Gutierrez of the Diocese of Marbel said the worsening illegal mining in Tampakan should serve as an “eye-opener” to the adverse impact of such activity to the environment.

Published in the Sun.Star Davao newspaper on August 28, 2009.