TUBA, Benguet – The Lone Igorot mining executive of the Philex Mining Corporation disclosed mining will still have a bright future amidst the upcoming change of leadership in the government by the end of this month.
Engr. Eulalio B. Austin, Jr., Philex president and chief executive officer, cited that change is coming but the competence and excellence of mining engineers remain the same, thus, the same is true with the case of the country’s mining industry wherein responsible mining will be the one to bring the country to greater heights in the worldwide arena of economic development.
“We were taught and trained to use the light to chase the dark and to be bright when faced with something bleak. When face with a blankwall of impregnable rock or stone, the mining engineer will always see gold or copper or silver, or other precious metals. We were made to always have a brighter future,” Austin stressed.
Austin was one of the recipients of the award Outstanding Mining Engineers in the country during a recent Mining Convention attended by more than 500 mining stakeholders spearheaded by the Philippine Society of Mining Engineers under the leadership of Engr. Felizardo Gacad of the Cordillera office of the Mines and Geosciences Bureau (MGB-CAR).
The Philex started his message during the awarding ceremonies by stating that there is a sticker on the internet that states: ‘we mining engineers do precision guess work based on unreliable data provided by those of questionable knowledge.’
“Of course, that was meant to be a joke, but the truth there in some way is that we really do precision guess work, the operative word there being precision. As engineers by profession, we are taught to always consider attendant risk when faced with a problem, to analyse problem thoroughly and to come up with exact calculations or computations to specifically deal with it,” Austin said.
As mining engineers, he claimed that they were taught to prepare, and to prepare in a rather precise and scientific manner.
Austin explained in some ways, when he was informed that he would be receiving his award for this year, he had to prepare for it, too, in a very precise and scientific manner, counting the number of words in his response, calculating the length of time that he should speak, approximating the volume of his voice as to reach the farthest end of the convention facility and so on.
At this time, Austin asserted the computer where you can watch YouTube, or the television set, or the mobile phone in your hand or pocket, or the microphone that he used, the building which they were in, the vehicle they used in coming and going to the convention area, are all products of mining that is not lost on the people.
Sadly, he claimed that perhaps without mining engineers, the aforesaid products that people are enjoying now will never come to be.
“The general public nowadays think that mining is not good, that mining does not bring growth to a nation nor prosperity to its people. They do not realize that the gadgets they use in expressing this view come from mining,” Austin exclaimed.
Lawyer Eduardo M. Aratas, Philex’s legal and administrative division head, said the recent award conferred to Engr. Austin and a number of mining engineers is a great honor and pride for the country’s largest producer of gold and copper, saying that Philex will sustain their adherence to responsible mining and will contribute to the growth of its host and neighboring communities.
By HENT
