Lopez’s open pit mining ban has no legal basis, MGB finds

THE legal division of the Mines and Geosciences Bureau (MGB) said a review of open pit mining ban issued by former Secretary Regina Paz L. Lopez has concluded that her order has no legal basis.

“If you read the DAO (department of administrative order), the only premises for banning open pit are to safeguard the environment, the common good, things like that, which are already enshrined in the Constitution,” MGB’s Legal Service Division Officer-in-charge Larry M. Heradez told reporters on the sidelines of the forum on responsible mining Thursday in Quezon City, while describing the “controversial” order as having “no legal basis.”

He said the geological characteristics of the Philippines are such that “we expect to find mineral deposits through surface mining... We can mine on the surface and make it technically and financially feasible… It’s not a matter of economics. It’s technical,” he added.

Administrative Order No. 2017-20 issued and signed by Ms. Lopez on April 27,2017, requires all open pit metal mines that have not become operational but with an approved Declaration of Mining Project Feasibility to review their proposed mining methods and submit their findings by October.

The order did not say what is to be done with the results, nor did it list sanctions on miners that fail to comply.

The Philippines has an estimated $ 1 trillion worth of untapped mineral reserves. Data from the MGB show that, as of June 2016, 2.70% or 0.811 million hectares of the Philippines’ total land area is covered by mining tenements.

Sagittarius Mines, Inc.’s $5.9-billion Tampakan project is proposing an open pit method of extraction.

Other projects such as Silangan Mindanao Mining Co., Inc.’s $32-million copper-gold project in Surigao del Norte and Kingking Mining’s $ 145- million copper-gold project in Compostela Valley — respectively expected to start operations in 2018 and 2020 — will also involve open-pit methods

Other than the open pit stoppage, Mr. Heradez said the MGB is reviewing all of Ms.Lopez’s directives.

“The goal is to determine if the directives were proper, appropriate, and relevant. After the review, the new secretary can revise, amend, or supersede [the orders],” the legal division chief said.

“Secretary ( Roy A.) Cimatu, right from the start, ordered the review of policies. They have been reviewed at the staff level by Undersecretary ( Mario Luis J.) Jacinto... We have the result of our review and are ready to produce it anytime, if ordered,” he added.

The review covers, aside from the open pit ban, Ms. Lopez’s “questionable” order to cancel 75 mineral production sharing agreements of mines in preoperational phase due to their location in watersheds, and the P2 million trust fund imposed on suspended mines, among others, Mr. Heradez said. —