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Friday, March 29, 2024

Miners cut costs to survive drop in global metal prices

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BAGUIO CITY—Metallic mining companies are now constrained to implement stringent cost-cutting measures for them to survive the serious negative impact of the continuous decline of global metal prices while non-metallic companies are reaping the fruits of the government’s heavy spending on infrastructure development in the countryside, an official of the Philippine Mine Safety and Environment Association said here recently.

Louie Sarmiento, PMSEA president, said metallic mining companies had been cutting expenses  over the past several months to lower the cost of operations so they could survive the effects of the sudden drop in the world metal prices.

Mining experts predict that the drop in world metal prices will continue until 2018 and that the temporary slump in the mineral industry will be over by the middle of 2019 or even later.

“The best thing for mining industry stakeholders is reduce unnecessary expenditures to be able to reduce their production cost while being able to cope  with the projected continuous drop in the world metal prices. The mining industry still remains vibrant amidst the projection of the worst- case scenario,” Sarmiento stressed.

However, the PMSEA official pointed out the non-metallic companies are in a different situation because they are now the ones generating income from the government’s heavy spending on infrastructure development in the countryside.

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He added the existence of more development projects in the countryside will definitely sustain the gains of the non-metallic mining companies which are banking on the country’s rich source of raw materials to be able to produce quality infrastructure products used in the lucrative construction industry.

Sarmiento admitted that for the past several years,the non-metallic mining industry had not been enjoying a robust growth as what it has been enjoying lately. As a result, most companies have been posting record-breaking income following full-blast construction activities.

He commended concerned government agencies and local governments for being able to bankroll the implementation of multi-billion infrastructure projects that will significantly contribute in increasing economic activities in the countryside because of good roads and generate employment opportunities for the people as well as uplift their living condition due to the existence of sustainable sources of income.

Sarmiento is optimistic that the metallic mining industry will be able to recover from the slump soon.

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