NPA attacks on mines create ‘climate of fear’ — investors

Communist rebel attacks on three local mines have created a climate of fear for investors just as the sector is seeking to cash in on the global resources boom. Malacañang condemned the raids that forced one of the country’s leading nickel producers to shut down a major venture, warning that the New People’s Army (NPA) action undermined peace talks.

The attacks by the NPA also showed weaknesses in the government’s capability to protect big-ticket investments in the mineral-rich countryside where the guerrillas operate, an official of one of the affected mining firms said.

The attacks on southern Mindanao also underscored the difficulty of negotiating

with the rebels without a ceasefire, said Teresita Deles, the government’s top adviser on talks.

“Hostile attacks such as the one conducted by the NPA yesterday undermine people’s confidence in the peace process,” Deles said.

“We condemn all attacks on civilian targets,” she said.

About 200 NPA guerrillas attacked the compound of the Taganito Mining Corp. in Claver town in Surigao del Norte, briefly taking several employees hostage and burning trucks, excavators and a guest house, police said.

“Clearly, the message of the rebels is to create fear,” Emmanuel Samson, chief finance officer of Nickel Asia, the country’s largest nickel producer whose mine sites were among those attacked, said.

“When you have disruptions such as the one yesterday, it would create a negative impact and something has to be done about it, especially since the thrust of the government is to generate more investor confidence.”

Police said about 200 NPA rebels were involved in the coordinated attacks on three mine sites on the southern island of Mindanao, one of the country’s poorest regions but also home to vast mineral riches.

At one of the mines, run by Nickel Asia’s Taganito Mining, the rebels briefly took several employees hostage, before burning trucks, excavators and a guest house.

Another Nickel Asia-linked operation nearby and a mine run by Platinum Metals Group were also attacked, in what the NPA claimed was payback for years of alleged environmental damage and abuse by the firms.

Operations at the two units of Nickel Asia, which is partly owned by Japan’s Sumitomo Metal Mining, have been indefinitely suspended, Samson said.

Its effect on the shares of the company at the stock market was immediate as the price of Nickel Asia shares dropped almost 13 percent in early trade yesterday after it suspended its mining operations at its Taganito nickel mine following an attack by communist rebels.

Nickel Asia dropped to as low as P15.04 per share from Monday’s close at P17.26.

Nickel Asia, partly owned by Japan’s Sumitomo Metal Mining Co Ltd, said it was assessing the damages at its facilities after the attack on its mine and a nickel processing facility under construction. –Virgilio J. Bugaoisan and Danessa O. Rivera, Daily Tribune