Executive Order (EO) 130 which lifted the moratorium on new mining contracts has attracted foreign players in offshore mining, according to the Offshore Mining Chamber of
the Philippines (OMCP).
Gary Olivar, OMCP chairman, said these include Primetals Technologies of Austria, Duro Felguera of Spain, funders from Switzerland, offshore mining-related companies in Japan such as Nakanishi Shipbuilding, Kurimoto Iron Works, Kansai Design Co. and JTrade Co. as well as companies from Singapore, Indonesia, Europe, Australia, Indonesia, Malta, China and Hong Kong have expressed interest in mining in the country.
But OMCP said government should only consider serious investors with adequate capital, proven technical expertise and capability to engage and deploy offshore equipment for proper exploration, seabed scientific research and sea bottom profiling facilities.
Olivar said the Mines and Geosciences Bureau of the DENR may start a review of its mine tenement ownership systems and processes to delist inactive claims.
“Land banking can occur offshore as well as onshore and must be curbed in the greater interest of spurring this new industry to contribute to the country’s recovery,” he said.
At present, only JDVC Resources Corp. is fully permitted to do offshore large-scale mining operations to mine magnetite iron deposits off Cagayan. The company has deployed its first deep sea mining vessel MB Siphon 1 for site developmental stage, preliminary sea bed trenching and bulk sampling preparatory to commercial export shipment.
