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Mining and Water: San Antonio Pit, Marinduque

This is the third case study of this Mining and Water series, in honour of World Water Day.

Previous Mining and Water case studies:

Mining and Water: Benguet

Mining and Water: Marinduque

This case study continues to focus on the small Philippine island of Marinduque, where Canadian company Placer Dome operated a copper mine for thirty years.

“Imagine…being forced into a situation where you lived in a house…and a contractor puts a huge swimming pool up on your roof. You then suddenly receive a secret report that says the roof can cave in at any time and the water can drown you and your children who live below!…How would you feel if you had no other place to live? If you feel desperate, you have just put yourselves in the shoes of…almost 100,000 villagers in my home province of Marinduque.” -  Congressman Edmund Reyes from Marinduque.

The San Antonio Pit contains millions of tons of mine waste being held back by failing dams. According to a leaked document from Placer Dome’s own environmental consultants, “failure of the dam is a virtual certainty in the near term”. When the Philippine government ordered Placer Dome to make the necessary repairs, and clean up the mess from two previous dam failures or face criminal charges, Placer Dome responded by pulling out personnel from the Philippines without a word to anyone.

Since Placer Dome left the Philippines the abandoned Sand Antonio Pit has gradually filled with rainwater. The San Antonio Pit now contains millions of tons of water, which has mixed with mine waste and other toxic chemicals, being held back by failing dams. According to a leaked document from Placer Dome's own environmental consultants, "failure of the dam is a virtual certainty in the near term".

The small island of Marinduque is located within a typhoon belt. Every time it rains, the pressure on the failing dam increases, making the collapse a question of when not if.

The small island of Marinduque is located within a typhoon belt. Every time it rains, the pressure on the failing dam increases, making the collapse a question of when not if.

The mounting pressure being applied to the failing dam puts over 100,000 villagers below in grave danger, but there is nothing they can do.

The mounting pressure being applied to the failing dam puts over 100,000 villagers below in grave danger, but there is nothing they can do.

When the dam does eventually collapse, much of the surrounding villages will be inundated by flash floods with the contents of the San Antonio Pit which contains dangerous toxic chemicals.

When the dam does eventually collapse, much of the surrounding villages will be inundated by flash floods with the contents of the San Antonio Pit which contains dangerous toxic chemicals.

When asked about what can be done about the situation, one common response was "all we can do is sit and wait for the next disaster."

When asked about what can be done about the situation, one common response was "all we can do is sit and wait for the next disaster."

When the first dam collapsed in 1993, the flash flood of toxic waste swept away Thomas' treasured cow and he nearly drowned. With the San Antonio Pit now on the verge of collapse, Thomas knows that his home will be one of the first ones swept under by the coming flash floods, but he has nowhere else go. With his already deteriorating health, he stands little chance of surviving.

When the first dam collapsed in 1993, the flash flood of toxic waste swept away Thomas' treasured cow and he nearly drowned. With the San Antonio Pit now on the verge of collapse, Thomas knows that his home will be one of the first ones swept under by the coming flash floods, but he has nowhere else go. With his already deteriorating health, he stands little chance of surviving.

“Look, that dam could break at any time, maybe next week, maybe tomorrow, I don’t know. But I do know that when it does happen, my house and my family will probably be destroyed. And just like last time, the company will blame it on an ‘Act of God.’ I want that picture to exist, so that people can know what happened. For that, I would be willing to sacrifice myself.” With those words a brave Marinduqueño snuck a photographer in the back of a truck into Placer Dome’s old copper mine, successfully evading the armed guards still protecting the property. Here he stands in front of the San Antonio Pit, containing the millions of tons of mine waste which will eventually come crashing down on his home. His bravery and determination to put himself in harms way for the sake of this documentation is a stronger testament to the anxiety Marinduqueños have to live with than any picture can offer.

“Look, that dam could break at any time, maybe next week, maybe tomorrow, I don’t know. But I do know that when it does happen, my house and my family will probably be destroyed. And just like last time, the company will blame it on an ‘Act of God.’ I want that picture to exist, so that people can know what happened. For that, I would be willing to sacrifice myself.” With those words a brave Marinduqueño snuck a photographer in the back of a truck into Placer Dome’s old copper mine, successfully evading the armed guards still protecting the property. Here he stands in front of the San Antonio Pit, containing the millions of tons of mine waste which will eventually come crashing down on his home. His bravery and determination to put himself in harms way for the sake of this documentation is a stronger testament to the anxiety Marinduqueños have to live with than any picture can offer.

More information on Marinduque:

Statement of the People of Marinduque for the Government and People of Canada

Oxfam Australia’s case report on Marinduque

MiningWatch Canada: Backgrounder on Placer Dome in the Philippines

Mining and Water:

Mining and Water: Benguet

Mining and Water: Marinduque

This entry was posted on Wednesday, March 25th, 2009 at 21:50 and is filed under Mining and Water. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

2 Responses Subscribe to comments


  1. Seer

    There is one thing that they could do, MOVE.
    I know this sounds harsh but I thing that if my life was threatened by a badly built dam and I knew it was in danger of letting go at any time I would not be hanging around waiting to be rescued by someone else.
    You need to take controle and get yourself and family out of the way.
    And they know ““Look, that dam could break at any time, maybe next week, maybe tomorrow, I don’t know. But I do know that when it does happen, my house and my family will probably be destroyed.”"
    Get out of there Man!!

    Mar 26, 2009 @ 17:22


  2. admin

    Thanks for the comment, Seer.
    You make a fair point, and many people have left. But keep in mind we’re talking about over 100,000 on a small island with limited capacities.

    Where do they go? Who pays the costs of relocating 100,000 people? What are the elderly (like Thomas) supposed to do? if they did leave, where do you think they would end up? the one alternative available to them is to move to a big city and live in the over-crowded urban slums.

    The population of Metro Manila was about 5million in 1975 and has exploded to 15million and growing now precisely because so many people are finding it impossible to continue their traditional ways of life for a variety of reasons, only one of which is irresponsible mining practices.

    Many have chosen to move to the cities, but many others would not consider this a viable option, many will have decided that they’d rather take their chances and die at home than spend the rest of their lives trying to survive in a slum.

    Mar 30, 2009 @ 13:25

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