THE National Commission on Indigenous Peoples (NCIP) has canceled over the weekend a compliance certificate it earlier gave to Platinum Group Metals Corp. (PGMC) and said it would reissue a new one to Citinickel Mines and Development Corp. on the nickel-rich Palawan mining concession, which the two firms are currently contesting.

The NCIP made the twin moves in Resolution 246, which its chairman, Eugenio Insigne, and six commissioners have unanimously approved on the nickel-rich 2,200-hectare mining concession in the towns of Sofronio Española and Narra in Palawan.

In its May 27 resolution, the NCIP said it was issuing a new compliance certificate to Citinickel on the basis of its submission of a copy of the mineral production aharing Agreement (MPSA), which showed Olympic Mines and Development Corp. (OMDC) transferring its right over the mining area to Citinickel.

The NCIP also said it was taking cognizance of the transfer of rights from OMDC to Citinickel, but explained it would only issue a new compliance certificate to Citinickel upon its compliance of the following conditions:

• Citinickel would negotiate and enter into a memorandum of agreement (MOA) with the Palawano and Tagbanua ethnic communities in Sofronio Española and Narra;

• Citinickel would assume all obligations and responsibilities under the previous MOA between PGMC and the ethnic communities there;

• Citinickel would improve the terms and conditions and provide greater benefit to the ethnic communities; and

• Citinickel would coordinate with the NCIP Ancestral Domains Office in this endeavor.

In its May 18 letter to NCIP, Citinickel requested a “rectification” of Compliance Certificate CCR/V-06-03-032 issued to PGMC, claiming it was “erroneously” issued to PGMC instead of Citinickel, which, it claimed, holds the MPSA for the mining area. But the NCIP rejected Citinickel’s suggestion that the NCIP has made an “error” in giving the earlier compliance certificate to PGMC, saying that it made the move because PGMC was presenting itself to be the private firm, which was authorized to conduct exploration and mining activities in the mining area.

Under the law, private firms performing exploration, testing and mining operations on areas, which are part of the ancestral domain of indigenous people, have to secure compliance certificate from the NCIP before they could proceed.

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THE National Commission on Indigenous Peoples (NCIP) has canceled over the weekend a compliance certificate it earlier gave to Platinum Group Metals Corp. (PGMC) and said it would reissue a new one to Citinickel Mines and Development Corp. on the nickel-rich Palawan mining concession, which the two firms are currently contesting.