The Philippine Economic Zone Authority (PEZA) is pushing for the development of mineral processing ecozones to encourage value addition in mining.
Tereso Panga, PEZA director-general, told reporters this is in line with the stand of the Office of the Special Assistant to the President for Investment and Economic Affairs that tagged mining as one of the five priority sectors it is promoting.
Panga said the development of mineral processing zones is also in conjunction with the lifting of the moratorium on new mining projects in 2021 which was stalled by the pandemic.
Panga said the zones will cater to processing of nickel for batteries, copper for wires and other byproducts and iron ores for steel in areas in Mindanao close to the source of the minerals such as Isabel, Leyte, Surigao del Norte among others.
Panga is joining President Marcos Jr. on an official visit to Australia on March 2 to 4 where PEZA will promote mining among global players in the sector.
Currently, PEZA has a mineral processing zone in Claver, Surigao where Taganito HPAL Nickel is processing nickel ore.
Previously, the government announced the creation of pharmaceutical zones to attract manufacturing of medicines and bring down the cost of health care in the country.
