Mining in Claver, Surigao is Sick!

It was awkward, but I got so tensed at the color of the mountains ahead of me. Everything was red and raw. I started taking pictures, and a little while later, it was action. Raging trucks everywhere, going up and down vast mountains, and mining companies one after another; dust blowing up like a mountain on fire. This place is sick.

I hope I have better pictures to show you; I tried looking on google, but no picture could get me the same goose bumps I that rose as we were passing by the mountains of Surigao.

For those coming to Surigao (del norte), please please do pass by the town of Claver. This place needs serious attention. The Mining is ill; The whole landscape has been ripped off bare and raw.  

If only this place would have been somewhere where in the popular routes, I don’t think it will ever come this worst. You don't even need a big heart, nor a broad mind to feel how regretfully horrible it. Please please please pass by this route, take pictures, share on your social media. Please...

Update 10-21-2015:
Someone who did a dive research in the area notes: The iron-laden soil is already affecting the surrounding waters. I performed coastal resource assessments in surigao del norte last year, and the hard corals are disappearing. They are being replaced by corallimorpharians, which thrive in high iron environments, but fish need hard corals to build the reefs they live in.

The red soil is being blown into the ocean, choking the reefs and feeding a different type of organism. Unless something is done to address this, the waters around surigao will be without fish in the years to come.

Adding a video by Pia Ranada uploaded on Youtube on July 2015