By Gerry Gamelo, TVIRD Canatuan Assay Laboratory Manager

We did not mind the scorching heat of the sun at the port. It just strengthened our resolve to complete our task of shipping the copper concentrates as efficiently as we could. The weather was on our side. The sea was calm, but the sea breeze was not enough to cool us down. The temperature remained at 33 degree Celsius. The village of Sta. Maria, where Siocon’s lone port is located and populated mostly by Muslims, was also quiet. The excited village folks just watched us, giving us space to move in and out of the port. Seen busy, however, were stores selling food for people that worked at the port. Business was very much alive since the arrival of the two LCT transfer barges. The port was teeming with people that included employees of TVI Resource Development Philippines, Inc., (TVIRD) and Arrastre, the latter hired to assist in the hauling of concentrates.



The shipment was a “first” following the decommissioning of TVIRD’s gold-silver operations in April last year in Canatuan, the ancestral land of the Subanons, one of the biggest minority tribes in the Mindanao islands.

Shipping concentrates is not new to me. But TVIRD’s way of shipping is unique. It involves various teams to coordinate and supervise. It is also a learning experience for me. TVIRD first copper concentrate shipment was also my first time to deal directly with key officers of the ocean vessel and various representatives of the Philippine government.

The activity was considered by the company and its over 600 employees as one of the biggest event of the year. It highlighted the 24/7 construction work of the Sulphide plant and tailings impoundment dam last year, and the subsequent copper-zinc mining operations to be able to produce copper concentrates.


I was assigned as overall coordinator of the shipment, with Ed Nercuit, manager of TVIRD’s Civil Engineering and Services, assisting me. He headed the team that took charge of the physical preparations for the shipment. His team renovated the port passenger terminal port and the living quarters for the officials of the Philippine Port Authority. They also constructed the Assay Laboratory at our warehouse.

Moreover, he was tasked to schedule the trips of the dump trucks for the hauling of concentrates from the warehouse to the transfer barges. In between these grueling tasks, Ed joined me in the coordination meetings with the village chiefs of Sta. Maria and Matiag. Ed is a Muslim convert and native of Siocon. His town mates treat him with respect as one of their own.

While Ed supervised the hauling of the concentrates, I saw to it that concentrates loaded on dump trucks were sampled as stipulated in our agreement with our buyer. Ed made a total of 341 trips to haul the product. As such, all the concentrates on these dump trucks underwent sampling and analyses by members of my team.


We had a total of 77 men who worked 24 hours beginning March 24. After the health and safety and security briefings, we started the hauling of concentrates. From there, there was no let-up in our work. No time to rest and even for a decent sleep. We only stopped to feed our hungry stomachs.

The loading officially ended at 7:50 in the evening of March 27. The following day, I went back to Canatuan dead tired. My brown skin turned dark, my face suffered sun burn because of too much exposure to the sun. Ed had a hoarse voice for almost a week. But then we were all happy. Again, TVIRD has made it!