Home page of the Australian mining firm Ten Sixty Four Limited. (https://www.x64.gold)
BUNAWAN, Agusan del Sur – Major tribal groups in this town have declared an Australian mining firm and its trading arm as persona non grata for allegedly failing to remit payments for gold and silver dore bars shipped to Hong Kong that were produced and processed by its Philippine partner, Philsaga Mining Corp (PMC).
In an interview, Rolito Peñaloga, chieftain of Bunawan Ancestral Domain Management Council, Inc. (BMADMCI), said this is the first time that the Australian firm Ten Sixty Four Limited (ASX: X64) "betrayed the trust and confidence" of the indigenous peoples (IPs) in the area.
“What they did is economic sabotage and (they) must be held criminally liable,” Peñaloga said, after learning that PMC's foreign partner and its trading arm, Komo Diti, owe PMC at least US$4,837,221 in royalties to the IPs, including operational costs.
X64, then known as Medusa Mining Limited (ASX: MML), entered into a commercial partnership with the PMC in 2006 to develop parts of its mining concessions in Agusan del Sur province.
PMC has existing royalty agreements with tribal groups in the area as its mining claims are located within government-recognized ancestral domains.
Engr. Ferdinand A. Cortes, PMC vice president for operations, said the company had shipped gold and silver dore bars on Feb. 3 this year to Hong Kong.
Under the parties' sales and purchase agreement, Cortes said Komo Diti should pay the proceeds within three working days from receipt or until Feb. 15.
However, Cortes said no payment has been remitted despite multiple demands from X64 and Komo Diti.
For his part, Peñaloga said the tribal groups were compelled to declare X64 personal non grata or unwelcome for showing no gratitude to the natives.
He recalled that the directors of X64 were accorded "customary welcome and hospitality" when they sought meetings with the tribes for them to be allowed to partner with PMC.
Peñaloga said the tribal resolution declaring the Australian mining firm unwelcome in their place is supported by Hawodon Makapoo II, chairperson of the Consuelo Tribal Agroforestry Muti-Purpose Cooperative (COTAMPCO); Hawodon Mamakaw, chair of the Bunawan Tribal Council of Baes and Datus, Inc. (BTCDBI); and Hawodon Hagnaya II, Barangay Tribal Chieftain of Consuelo Katibuan Tribal Council Org. (COKATRICO).
The resolution, however, reiterated the Manobo tribal leaders' support for the PMC management, which they said was responsible for improving the lives of the IPs and the residents of the host communities where the company operates.
Peñaloga said the resolution has been furnished to local government units and neighboring tribal groups to help them expel any X64 officer who attempts to enter their ancestral lands in the Agusan del Sur towns of Bunawan and Rosario. (PNA)
