For two consecutive years, Cagdianao Mining Corp. (CMC) has been chosen as a winner of the Presidential Mineral Industry Environmental Award (PMIEA), the Philippine mineral industry's highest accolade.
The CMC, an affiliate of Nickel Asia Corp., also took home the Presidential Mineral Industry Environmental Award in 2019 during the 66th Annual National Mine Safety and Environment Conference (ANMSEC) held in Baguio City.
During that year, CMC also bagged the two highest safety performance awards – the Safest Surface Mines and the Overall Safest Mine Operations among all operating mining companies in the country.
For 2020, CMC won again as Presidential awardee and as runner-up for the Safest Surface Mines for the second time around.
Engr. Arnilo Milaor, CMC Resident Mine Manager, attributed the company's success to its workforce, saying it was "the CMC personnel who endured the long months of not seeing their families; who braved the continuing threats of the virus to perform their duties to our community stakeholders, to our clients, to our regulatory bodies."
"Our Team stayed clear-eyed and determined to achieve our mission objectives for 2020," he said.
Milaor also said the recognition was proof not only of the company's strict adherence to mining regulations but also of its "long tradition of going above and beyond" government mandates "to create the highest good" for the community and the environment.
“PMIEA is the ultimate measure upon which everyone in the Philippine mineral sector is weighed and scrutinized by a competent panel of adjudicators under the aegis of no less than the Office of the President, upon whose name this award is given to deserving mining companies," he noted.
Milaor vowed the award "will only drive us more to make the country’s mineral sector as a vital component for national development."
The mining company spent P55.5 million last year for its Environmental Protection and Enhancement Program (EPEP), covering land management, water resources quality, air quality, noise quality, conservation of biodiversity, research and development, monitoring, and compliance.
It also spent some P45.2 million for social development programs in the same period, which the company said has increased the average monthly income of families living within its host and neighboring communities by 25.7 percent over the years.
Social development initiatives have also reduced by 47.3 percent the residents' yearly health expenditures, it added.
To ensure workplace safety, CMC said it has spent more than P13.5 last year on technologies, tools, and training to empower workers, ensuring they adapt to the changing working environment.
Meanwhile, Cagdianao Mayor Adolfo E. Longos also noted that the company's "first PMIEA award has truly ignited your desire to do more and this time is an unquestionable proof of your commitment and dedication to a responsible mining despite difficulty brought about by COVID-19 pandemic."
"I am confident that you deserve another PMIEA Award in the next years to come,” Longos said.
CMC's sister company, Rio Tuba Nickel Mining Corp. (RTNMC), based in Bataraza in Palawan, also won the coveted award for this year. RTNMC has previously won the award thrice – 2002, 2015 and 2018.
The Mines and Geosciences Bureau, which organizes the annual event, explained that the “award is given to operating mines that have shown exemplary performance in the area of environmental enhancement and protection, safety, health, and social development and corporate social responsibility.”
Executive Order 399 issued in 1997, which established the PMIEA, said the award aims to recognize "outstanding levels of dedication, initiative, and innovation in various aspects of operations in the country's minerals sector."