After Benguet Corp., the company that previously operated the mine, halted operations, thousands of individuals flocked to the site, known as Antamok, to work the tunnels started by the company. “Before Ompong came, I asked them to leave,” Victorio Palangdan, the mayor of Itogon, said of the miners, using Typhoon Mangkhut’s local name. He said the workers at the camp told him that they had permission from Benguet Corp. to work the abandoned mine, a claim the company denied. By some estimates, as many as 400,000 small-scale miners operate throughout the Philippines, digging in areas where such activity is outlawed and using banned toxic substances, including mercury, to process their finds. “I share the grief of those who lost their loved ones,” the president said.

Source: New York Times September 17, 2018 04:12 UTC