September 29, 2021

The Mines and Geosciences Bureau Regional Office No. VIII (MGBRO VIII) has a declared mineral reservation: Samar Bauxite Mineral Reservation (SBMR) located in Samar Island. It is composed of eight (8) parcels with a total land area of about 210, 589 hectares. The declared areas are in Northern Samar, Samar and Eastern Samar Provinces.

The Parcels were declared as Mineral Reservation in 1977 during the time of President Ferdinand E. Marcos under Proclamation No. 1615 with a reserve of about 20, 511, 600 Metric Tons.

 Tuonan, M., Luz, L., Eumague. Jr.,A.  (2021) Samar Bauxite Mineral Reservation (SBMR) Parcel D. Progress Report.

Table 1. Parcels of Samar Bauxite Mineral Reservation

One of the core projects of MGB Region 8 is the Mineral Reservation Program which aims to evaluate and conduct enhancement for the reported bauxite mineralization. For the year 2021, the MGB Region 8 has 0ne (1) target: Parcel D located in the municipalities of Paranas and Motiong and some portion of Jiabong all in the Province of Samar.

The enhancement was done through three (3) phases: First is the pre-fieldwork phase involving literature research of previous works on the study area. The second phase is the actual fieldwork which is the grab sampling or test pitting. The last phase of the study is the finalization of the database and the preparation of samples (drying) subject for laboratory analysis.

For the year 2021, MGB Regional Office No. 8 has one (1) target parcel in the SBMR, Parcel D, located in the municipalities of Paranas, Motiong and some portion of Jiabong, province of Samar. The first fieldwork was conducted in the municipality of Paranas last June 16 - July 10, 2021. 

The continuation of the fieldwork in Paranas and the remaining municipalities of  Motiong and some portion of Jiabong, commenced last September 22, 2021 until October 15, 2021.

The  continuation of the activities for Parcel D in SBMR will be  conducted by technical personnel from the Geosciences Division of MGB RO8 led by Celestina U. Carranza (OIC-Geosciences Division),  Mariel B. Tuonan (Senior Geologist), Ennah Marie Ambe (Geologist II), and  Leandrew L. Luz (Geologist).

The result of this program is intended to determine the value of mineral deposits in the said reservation for a possible mining exploration subject, however, to the existing area of the Samar Island Natural Park.