BY LEANDER C. DOMINGO
SAINT Louis University (SLU) in Baguio City received P2.3 million from the Didipio Mine in the upland and gold-deposit-rich town of Kasibu in Nueva Vizcaya for the procurement of equipment for its mining engineering laboratory.
Lawyer Joan Adaci-Cattiling, Didipio Mine president and general manager for external affairs and social performance, said the donation is particularly for the procurement of SLU’s petrographic microscope for SLU mining engineering students.
Adaci-Cattiling said this is the fourth donation that was rolled out by the company under its Development of Mining Technologies and Geosciences or DMTG Program grant in partnership with SLU.
Desiree Baldevino, Didipio Mine external affairs and social performance manager, expressed elation with the rising number of enrollees in Mining Engineering at the SLU.
“With our partnership, we hope to encourage more students, and eventually professionals, to work in the mining industry,” she said.
Felina Espique, PhD, SLU vice president for academic affairs, representing SLU President Rev. Fr. Gilbert Sales, thanked the Didipio Mine for its “valuable and significant contributions to the university.”
Espique said it is such a privilege for the university for the opportunity to partner with the Didipio Mine.
She also thanked the Didipio Mine on behalf of the leadership of SLU and the entire SLU community, particularly their students pursuing Bachelor of Science in Mining Engineering as well as the students taking up Bachelor of Science in Chemical Engineering and all other engineering students benefitting from all the donations.
“The purchase of equipment in our laboratory coming from the Didipio Mine is such a great help to our engineering students,” Espique said.
The donation was formalized in the signing of a memorandum of agreement (MoA) in which Baldevino represented the Didipio Mine; Espique represented SLU; and Mines and Geosciences Bureau Region 2 Director Mario Ancheta.
The MoA signing and the turnover of the P2.3 million check were held at the SLU Incubator for Research, Innovation and Business Center on Aug. 16, 2024.
Also signing as witnesses were engineer Carolyn Bautista, SLU associate dean of the School of Engineering and Architecture; Stephanie Busbos, director of Global Relations and Alumni Affairs Office; engineer Daphne Leal, Chemical and Mining Engineering Department head; engineer Melissa Boado, former department head along with mining and chemical engineering students.