Mining is more than digging and extracting minerals from the bowels of the earth, as it helps improve lives of the people and the community where it labors and interacts.
This was pointed out by mining industry leaders as they called for a greater understanding and circumspection in addressing the issue of mining.
OceanaGold Corp. senior vice president for communications and public affairs Ramoncito Gozar said the company had 1,875 employees, of whom 97 percent were local residents at its mine site in Didipio, Nueva Vizcaya.
These workers and their families, who had no steady work and regular income before, are now in possession of increased purchasing power which benefits not only themselves but local shops of mom-and-pop variety and larger business establishments, he said.
Gozar said OceanaGold invested P6.5 million in site skills training for employees before putting them to work in areas requiring diverse competency such as underground work using UG simulator, heavy equipment fitting, electro-technology, basic computer knowledge, light vehicle operation and emergency response knowhow.
“Training and acquiring new skills have imbued locals with greater confidence in facing challenges in today’s environment and gung-ho spirit in accepting bigger responsibility, attitudes not easily discerned, if at all, prior to the operation of OceanaGold in the area” Gozar said.
“Counting with human resources development the infrastructure projects such as roads and school facilities that OceanaGold either built or upgraded and continuously maintains benefitting its host community and neighboring towns, it can be truly said that OceanaGold is a game changer—one mining outfit that has brought significant changes in the economy, outlook and quality of life to people and community in which it lives and works,” Gozar said.
Gozar cited OceanaGold’s strict adherence to the highest and exacting mining standards observed in Australia as key to its seamless and satisfactory-result-producing operation.
