Gold plant attacked by Philippine paramilitaries

In the early hours of Wednesday, the paramilitary wing of the Communist Party of the Philippines (CPP) attacked a gold processing plant in the southern Philippines.

The incident involved seven members of the New People’s Army (NPA) and cost the lives of two security guards who were on duty at the plant, operated by JB Mining and Management.

JB Mining is a local Phillipine company and while the NPA is most strongly opposed to foreign miners it has also been known to attack domestic companies.

The “army” usually focuses on the destruction of property, although mining company employees have sustained injuries in previous raids.

In January, it attacked Sagittarius Mines’ Tampakan copper/gold project located on Mindanao.

Sagittarius is a subsidiary of Xstrata and the raid, which caused fire damage to buildings, was accompanied by a CPP statement accusing the Government of the Philippines of allowing foreign companies to “siphon out billions of dollars worth of Philippine natural resources to the further detriment of the people’s livelihood and the environment.”

The Philippine government is continuing its efforts to attract foreign investment to its mineral sector and has offered to work with mining firms to help improve security.