The country’s abundant mineral resources could fuel green technologies and create a wave of high-quality job opportunities for Filipinos once their full potential is realized, according to the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA).
NEDA Secretary Arsenio Balisacan highlighted the underutilized but immense potential of the mining sector in a forum on revitalizing the Philippine mining industry on May 10.
Balisacan said there is room for significant growth despite the sector’s modest contribution to the country’s gross domestic product (GDP) at 0.5 percent by end-2023.
Balisacan said only 0.17 percent of the country’s known mineral deposits have been developed for production. Employment in mining and quarrying remains low, constituting only 0.45 percent of total employment.
The majority of the country’s mineral exports are raw or unprocessed. This leads to foregone opportunities to leverage the country’s natural resources to produce the tools and technologies that sustainable and resilient economies demand.
“With abundant reserves of minerals vital for producing green technologies such as solar PVs [photovoltaic cells], wind turbines and electric vehicle batteries, the Philippines is strategically positioned to tap into global markets for these technologies and maximize the value derived from its mineral products,” Balisacan said.
He said this could be achieved by further developing downstream metallic and non-metallic mineral processing to bolster the expansion of domestic manufacturing industries focused on green technologies.
As outlined in the Philippine Development Plan (PDP) 2023-2028, the government is exploring opportunities to increase value addition in the mineral industry while ensuring macroeconomic stability and accelerating climate action.
Balisacan also acknowledged significant challenges impeding the growth of the mineral industry, such as limited availability of mineral processing technology, substantial capital requirements, high operating costs largely driven by high electricity expenses, and an unstable policy environment surrounding mining.
He said to address these challenges, the government would provide support to local industries for research and development (R&D) and commercialization of green technologies and products.
It will also implement reforms to bring down electricity and logistics costs and create an enabling policy environment to encourage private sector investments in green industries.
He said the government is actively collaborating with relevant agencies to implement a suitable tax regime for extractive industries, particularly mining, and to institutionalize the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI) principles.
“We expect the promising mining industry to support our manufacturing, infrastructure, and construction sectors, with spillovers to the broader economy through more and higher-quality jobs for all Filipinos even as we work toward our climate change commitments under the Paris Agreement,” the NEDA chief said.
The Mining Forum, organized by the Department of Environment and Natural Resources in collaboration with the Stratbase ADR Institute, aims to unite industry experts and other stakeholders to work closely with the government to implement policy reforms to ease regulatory obstacles and position the Philippines as a significant contributor to the global green economy.