Thursday, July 24, 2008 Gold station sought By Jane Cadalig
TO PROTECT the safety of constituents, the Itogon Municipal Government is asking the Central Bank to buy gold from local producers or pocket miners.
Town officials said gold producers in the locality would gain more and their safety would be ensured if the Central Bank directly buys from manufacturers here.
Mayor Mario Godio and Vice Mayor Noel Noglob said the safety of gold producers in the municipality is sometimes put at risk when they trade their gold outside of the town, particularly in Baguio City.
"We will ask the Central Bank (gold buying station) to buy directly from our local miners to minimize the involvement of middlemen and to ensure safety the safety of the producers who are sometime (intercepted) by criminals on their way home from trading their produce," Ngolob said.
Gold production is the major livelihood of the people in Itogon.
According to Ngolob, seven of the town's nine barangays are engaged in gold production.
Most producers are small-scale miners, which up to this date, are still considered illegal by environment and mining laws.
Despite this, majority of the households depend on small-scale mining as their only means of livelihood.
The Municipal Government is also working for the legalization of small-scale mining. It also considers making gold as its One Town, One Product.
Godio said programs are also being initiated to process gold into more lucrative products like jewelry to add more to the income of small-scale miners.
