Semirara seeks court nod on keeping mine assets data
Semirara Mining and Power Corp. (SMPC) is challenging in court the Department of Energy’s (DOE) repeated demand for the firm to disclose data on its assets for operations at the Semirara mine as a planned auction for the contract looms.
The country’s largest coal producer said Friday that it had sought a Makati court’s intervention to block the DOE’s requiring SMPC to submit its detailed asset information, which the latter intends to share with other contenders.
In a statement, the Consunji-led company said it had received a total of four letters from the DOE, seeking proprietary information, even covering geological and technical data.
The request likewise extends to those reconfigured to manage an intensified river-strength flow of water into the Acacia mine.
“So far, continuous pumping has kept water seepage at the Acacia mine under control. But the pumps are the mine’s lifeline: if pumping stops, Acacia could become completely flooded and may no longer be operable. If that happens, roughly half of the island’s recoverable coal reserves will be lost,” SMPC said.
The group said that taking its concern to the court was not meant to delay the coal mine bidding, but to stress that the government could only get hold of the assets once SMPC failed to remove them from the Semirara mine a year after its contract lapsed.
SMPC has long been running the Semirara mine. It earlier sought a 13-year extension, which was rejected by the Department of Justice. The existing contract with the government is set to expire in July 2027.
SMPC argued that its assets should not be considered in other players’ bid proposals, adding that potential contenders must conduct their own technical studies.
“This helps ensure that each bidder is evaluated based on its own technical work and proposal,” SMPC said.
“Government ownership of these assets is merely future and conditional. The bidding is supposed to choose a winner that has a viable mine plan and knows how to run one to make sure coal production is seamless to protect the country’s baseload electricity generation. It is not about SMPC and how it runs the mine,” it added.
The company said it remains keen to join the bidding for a chance to secure fresh contracts.
Asked for her reaction, Energy Secretary Sharon Garin said the bidding “will not be affected” by this development as the agency has sufficient information to pursue the auction.
“This is more like the DOE is asking for the information that, under contract and under policy, we are supposed to gather from our contractors, including the assets,” she said.
The energy chief refused to give more comments as the DOE has yet to receive a copy of SMPC’s petition.
