The ban on open pit mining still hinders progress of the mining industry despite a recent policy that lifted the moratorium on new service contracts, according to the Chamber of Mines of the Philippines (COMP).
Gerard Brimo, COMP chairman, said at the Arangkada Forum yesterday the ban is misguided as open pit mining is used all over the world to extract near surface deposits that cannot be extracted by underground methods.
Brimo said this is practised even in developed and large mining countries such as Australia, Canada and the United States.
“Because lifting the moratorium per se, is not enough. If you don’t allow for the most-used mining technique around the world, you don’t allow it here, lifting the moratorium on new mining permits won’t be of much help in terms of growing the industry and I think that is accepted and that (lifting) will happen soon,” Brimo added.
Last April, President Duterte lifted a nine-year moratorium on new mineral agreements between the government and the private sector with the issuance of Executive Order (EO)130.
However, the EO did not lift the open pit mining ban imposed under Department of Environment and Natural Resources’ Department Order 2017-10 which the COMP had earlier said impedes the potential to “unlock” at least $1.8 billion in additional exports and P12 billion in revenues for the government.
Brimo also cited other issues that need to be addressed such as the correction of provincial ordinances that ban mining operations as well as the rationalization of no-go zones for mining.
Brimo said provincial governments should not go against the national law that allows the rational exploration, development, utilization and conservation of mineral resources.
Brimo said the COMP recognizes there are areas where mining should not be done but noted the unclear policies on no-go zones should be rationalized to abuse that “stymie the growth of the industry.”
“The footprint of operating metallic mines today is only 0.03 of the country’s landmass and mineralized areas are not conducive to agriculture,” Brimo said.
In a separate statement, COMP said it has adopted the Climate Change Protocol of the Towards Sustainable Mining initiative to provide methods and procedures on incorporating climate change considerations in local mining operators’ decision-making process.
COMP said t apart from climate change, protocols on water stewardship; prevention of child and forced labor; biodiversity conservation management; health and safety; indigenous peoples and community outreach; and crisis management were already adopted.
