The Offshore Mining Chamber of the Philippines (OMCP) expressed support to a proposal banning sand mining in coastal towns of Ilocos to prevent shoreline erosion.
The position was raised by Probinsyano Ako party list representative Jose Singson, Jr. during a congressional hearing against the practice of some mining firms of extracting sand from shorelines in search of magnetite iron.
The OMCP said only those with the expertise and proper technology should be allowed to undertake mining operations in offshore areas and not in shorelines to prevent further erosion.
The group said guidelines issued by the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) in 2016 provide there should be no mining within the 500 meters from the shorelines to offshore to prevent possible coastal erosion and no mining 200 meters from on shoreline to inland areas of any coastal town.
The DENR issuance also required the security of evaluated environmental compliance certificates from the Environmental Management Bureau; an environmental impact assessment from country of design or manufacture for dredgers or mining vessels; ISO certificate standards of operation for environmental protection and ecological balance; and for offshore mining firms to be adequately capitalized and employed with technical personnel since the activity is capital intensive.
The OMCP said companies should obtain mineral ore export permit from the Bureau of Internal Revenue for the payment of 4 percent excise tax and 5 percent mineral reservation fees to the DENR.
At present, only JDVC Resources Corp. has been 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 to do its site developmental stage, preliminary seabed trenching and bulk sampling preparatory to commercial export shipment. – Jed Macapagal
