Residents of Luba municipality in Abra reported a fish kill that occurred along the Abra River last 26-27 January 2006. They suspect that Lepanto Consolidated Mining Corporation located upstream released mine tailings at the height of Typhoon Agaton and thus caused the fish kill downstream.

Dead shrimp and fish (including the usually more resistant carp) were seen floating along the Abra River for two days. River water at the time was reported to be blackish, with an unusual odor. On the morning of January 28, nets still did not yield any shrimps. Luba residents reported that the river bed was filled with a very fine, cement-like mud which came with the rains of Typhoon Agaton a few days
before the fish kill.

Meanwhile, residents of Sitio Paalaban (in Barangay Paco, Mankayan, Benguet) who live just behind the Carbon-In-Pulp (CIP) Mill Outlet of Lepanto observed a strong odor emanating from the mine waste flowing through their community on the evening of January 24. This strong odor returns almost every evening, around 7-9 pm.

Around this time, residents downstream in Quirino, Ilocos Sur also noted the dark color and strong odor of the Abra River water flowing through their municipality.

Initial testing done by the Saint Louis University College of Engineering and Architecture on water samples collected from Luba yielded free cyanide levels above the DENR limit of 0.05 mg/ L. River water at Luba was shown to have levels of 0.064 and 0.076 mg/L free cyanide. The Bureau of Fisheries and Aquatic Resources says that fish die when river water contains 0.05-0.072 mg/L free cyanide.

Water collected from the CIP Mill Outlet of Lepanto as late as February 8 showed extremely high levels of free cyanide above 26.4 mg/L. Since 2003, STARM has documented high levels of cyanide, as well as other toxic chemicals like mercury and lead, being discharged by Lepanto into the tributaries of the Abra River system.

In a letter to STARM dated 5 October 2005, Mines and Geosciences Bureau Regional Director Neoman dela Cruz attests that “two (2) cases were filed against the company at the Pollution and Adjudication Board (PAB). The first case is for exceeding the cyanide concentration during the first quarter of 2004 monitoring and the second case is for the high Total Dissolve (sic) Solids (TDS) loads of the effluent on the fourth quarter of 2004 monitoring…the river condition from 900L downstream to TD5A… is being adversely affected by the CIP mill discharge and the acidic underground water…”

Dr. Ana Marie Leung, spokesperson of STARM, had this to say about the fishkill, “Since 2003, the Save the Abra River Movement has documented Lepanto’s discharge of toxic chemicals into the environment.
This despite Lepanto’s claims of being an ‘environment-friendly mine’. Coming on the heels of the cyanide spill in Rapu-Rapu, Albay, the incident puts the mining industry’s claims of responsible mining into serious question. It is not only the newly opened mines like Rapu-Rapu that are polluting the environment, but more so the older mines who have been causing damage for decades. We are therefore united with the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines in asking for a repeal of the
Mining Act of 1995 which serves as the framework for this continuing plunder of our
natural resources.”

Save the Abra River Movement

Febraury 15, 2006