THE Mining Industry Coordinating Council on Tuesday recommended the lifting of the ban on open-pit mining provided that mining laws are strictly enforced by the Department of Environment and Natural Resources.
Environment Secretary Roy Cimatu said in a briefing after the MICC meeting at the Finance department that majority of the members of the council, which he co-chairs, voted for the lifting of the ban.
He said the recommendation would be presented to the Cabinet by the first week of November and could be approved before the year ends.
The council also agreed that it should be the DENR, through its Mines and Geoscience Bureau, that should take a close look and take appropriate action on the expansion of 24 mining areas covered by mineral production sharing agreements.
The MICC, co-chaired by Cimatu and Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez III, said preliminary results of a “fact-finding and science-based” review of 26 mines ordered closed or suspended by former secretary Gina Lopez should be out by January next year, with a final report ready by March.
The composition of the technical review teams and the methodologies they will use to conduct the review were finalized in the second week of October.
As proposed by Dominguez, the MICC agreed to conduct another review in 2019 and succeeding ones every two years thereafter, in keeping with the MICC mandate to review all mining operations once every two years.
On April 27, then DENR secretary Lopez issued Department Administrative Order (DAO)-2017-10 imposing a ban on the open pit method of extraction for copper, gold, silver and complex ores.
In its Aug. 23 meeting, the MICC tasked its technical working groups on economic concerns and on environmental protection and legislation to review and formulate the MICC policy recommendations in relation to the open pit mining ban.
The technical working groups were also directed to clarify related policy concerns that include 1) conflicting national and local level policies and issuances; and (=2) strengthening the enforcement of existing mining laws, regulations and contracts related to open pit mining.
Finance Undersecretary Bayani Agabin said the technical working groups were guided by the policy statements of President Rodrigo Duterte on the issue.
“The study also covered the economic, technical, legal and social aspects of open-pit mining,” Agabin said.
Cimatu had informed the MICC during the Aug. 23 meeting that the President’s policy directives on mining include the following: 1) improving the regulatory functions of the government on mining; 2) investigating and resolving issues concerning security and safety in small scale mining; 3) addressing the adverse environmental and social impact of mining, particularly in coastal areas; 4) strengthening regulations on open pit mining; and 5) strictly implementing the mining law and other pertinent environmental laws and regulations to ensure the protection of the environment.
On the 26 mines ordered either closed or suspended under the term of Lopez, the MICC earlier said it would tap the expertise of the Development Academy of the Philippines to implement and manage the “fact-finding and science-based” review process on these mining operations.
The review will be conducted by experts who will be divided into five technical review teams, Agabin said.
Agabin said the clustering of the mines for review were based on the types of minerals and locations.
The five TRTs will look into the environmental, economic, social, legal and technical aspects of the mining operations.