FOR four days, mining firm Sagittarius Mines Incorporated (SMI) held marathon public scoping as it starts the long process of obtaining government permits to mine copper and gold deposits in the hinterlands of south central Mindanao.

Protests however greeted the activities as environmental groups and the Catholic Church continue to voice their strong opposition to the multi-billion dollar project, said to be the biggest single investment project in the Philippines.

SMI holds the Columbio Financial and Technical Assistance Agreement which give the company exclusive rights to conduct exploration activities in the boundaries shared by the provinces of Cotabato, Sultan Kudarat, Davao del Sur and Sarangani all in Mindanao.

The project covers more than 20,000 hectares of forested and thickly vegetated areas along the Roxas mountain ranges.

Total estimates place the copper and gold ore deposits in the mineral rich development area at 2.4 billion tons at a grade of 0.6% copper and 0.2 grams per ton gold and reportedly contains 13.5 million tons of copper and 15.8 million ounces of gold, using a 0.3% copper cut-off grade, according to initial studies conducted by SMI.

World mining giant Xstrata Plc owns 62.5 per cent of SMI through its Australia-based subsidiary firm Xstrata Copper.

With the huge volume of world-class copper and gold deposits, the project, also known as the Tampakan Copper and Gold Project, becomes one of the biggest in Southeast Asia.

Another Australian exploration company holds 34.27 of SMI share while the rest is owned by Filipino conglomerate Alsons Consolidated Resources.

SMI is currently winding up its feasibility studies and is reportedly eyeing to start mining operations in 2016.

Bishop Dinualdo Gutierrez, head of the Diocese of Marbel, however, warned of social unrest and environmental disaster if the project pushes through.

The project sits in the middle of a protected watershed area and is source of water supply of several catch basins and lakes in the region as well as habitat of different flora and fauna.

SMI country manager Mark Williams allayed fears raised by the opposition, however.

He said the company shares its concerns over the environmental impact of the mining operations.

Williams said the company will put in place necessary measures “to protect the watershed area even during actual mining operations.”

He declined to elaborate but said they will announce these measures as soon as their feasibility study is finished.

But Fr. Peter Geremiah, head of the tribal program of the Diocese of Kidapawan in Cotabato, said, “you cannot anymore return these minerals if they’re excavated.”

SMI also faces armed resistance from the communist-led new People’s Army (NPA) which vowed to stop the project.

In 2008, the NPA guerillas raided and burned the main base camp of SMI in the village of Tablu in Tampakan during New Year’s Day and warned of more “punitive actions.”

More than a year later, in January 2009, the same rebel band attacked the main police station in Tampakan whose personnel it claimed are being used as security force of SMI.