The Philippines mining crackdown will separate good companies from bad ones and the industry is optimistic over prospects for $34 billion in projects to be developed in the next six years.
Most of the Chamber of Mines of the Philippines’ 20-plus members meet international standards and comply with the country’s environmental regulations, executive vice president Nelia Halcon told a briefing in Manila Monday.
In terms of the pipeline, “these projects have been approved and it’s only a matter of pushing their development,” Halcon said, referring to ventures that include the $5.9-billion Tampakan copper-gold project in South Cotabato province and Philex Mining Corp.’s $900-million Silangan project in Surigao del Norte. “We’re always hopeful,” she said.
President Rodrigo Duterte tasked Environment Secretary Gina Lopez with leading an audit of the nation’s mining industry for environmental compliance, and she has suspended at least eight nickel-ore miners that failed to meet standards.
Lopez said in July that she won’t allow Tampakan to start operations, while earlier this month she said the developers of the project must explain why its environmental permits shouldn’t be suspended for alleged violations.
Mining can do a lot of good if the government regulates the industry and listen to experts, University of the Philippines National Institute for Geological Sciences director Carlo Arcilla said Monday.
Arcilla said while mining could do some environmental damage, the industry could also engage in responsible mining.
“Mining is a complicated business. It’s easy to condemn, but it can do a lot of good provided that it is regulated, the environment is protected and the government is willing to listen to experts,” Arcilla said at Pandesal Forum in Kamuning, Quezon City.
The mining industry consists of 40 large-scale metallic mining companies, 65 non-metallic firms, and an estimated 300,000 small-scale and illegal operators throughout the country.
Environment Secretary Regina Lopez said, however, the capital-intensive extractive industry was not labor-intensive, employing only 250,000 Filipinos, or 0.6 percent of total labor force.
“This is how unsustainability manifests itself. Irresponsible mining has a perverse vicious cycle: mining businesses produce mining-related jobs for affected communities. Obviously, communities stay long after mining operations close down. The people are not given sustainable livelihoods that outlive mining,” Lopez said.
Arcilla said even if the industry was contributing only 1 percent to the local economy, “it might mean 100 percent to the involved communities.”
“Secretary [Lopez] has a very good heart but she has to be informed. There is no smoke without fire. There are really complaints and they should be answered. There are really problems in the mining [industry],” Arcilla said.
“But the thing is, mining is not over until the land is fully rehabilitated. It’s like construction of a building. There’s no construction site that looks good. When you are extracting soil, it really doesn’t look good. The problem comes in when the miner doesn’t rehabilitate,” Arcilla said.
Philex Mining Corp. senior vice-president for public and regulatory affairs Michael Toledo said responsible mining would continue to be alive in the country even if the government clamped down on illegal, mining companies to follow the law.
“ I admire Gina Lopez’ advocacy and we need somebody like that”•someone who is very passionate, who believes strongly on responsible mining,” Toledo said.
“ Now that you are a secretary, every time that a decision has to be made, you also have to listen to all. You also have to listen to scientific data, evidence and other information, then you make a decision,” Toledo said. With Anna Leah E. Gonzales