Gov’t to lose 140-B profit from ban of small mines

The elimination of small-scale mining operations in the country could translate to as much as 140 billion profit loss, Mines and Geosciences Bureau (MGB) Director Wilfredo Moncano said.

This was after Environment Secretary Roy Cimatu stopped all small-scale mining operations in the Cordillera Administrative Region (CAR) after dozens of miners in Ucab, Itogon, Benguet died due to landslides that took place in the area at the height of Typhoon Ompong.

Moncano said that MGB, the government agency tasked to regulate the mining sector, is now looking at other high risk areas where there are small scale mining operations.

“Right now, we don’t have clear figure as to how much the small scale miners are producing. A lot of them are illegal and only few are legal,” Moncano told reporters on the sidelines of Mining Philippines conference.

“There are some estimates that have not been reported. There are estimates [that say the value of the industry’s output] can go to as high as 130 billion to 140 billion a year,” he added.

To recall, the Philippines, which still has billions worth of untapped mineral resources, is now moving towards the approval of more smallscale mining operations.

In July, a memorandum circular that guarantees the approval of small-scale mining projects in the country was issued despite the existing moratorium on new mining projects.

In response to the growing concerns from the small-scale mining sector, Environment Secretary Roy Cimatu issued an order clarifying that small-scale mining projects in duly declared People’s Small-scale Mining Areas or Minahang Bayan are not covered by the moratorium on the acceptance, processing and approval of new mining projects as provided under the Department Memorandum Order (DMO) No. 2016-01.

Placed by former Environment Chief Regina Paz Lopez, DMO 2016-01 covers the moratorium of acceptance, processing and/ or approval of mining applications and/or new mining projects for all metallic and non-metallic minerals.

For his part, Chamber of Mines of the Philippines (COMP) Chair Gerard Brimo said the government has to tighten its regulation of small scale miners.

“We do not advocate against small scale mining. It is a valid occupation and there's a law governing it,” said Brimo, who also serves as the President of Nickel Asia Corp., told reporters.

However, he said that “it has always been a frustration” on the part of large scale mining companies that every time there is an incident involving small scale mining it affects the image of the entire industry.

President Rodrigo Duterte on Monday said that the massive landslide that befell CAR over the weekend was due to the mining activities in the region. He also said that mining has given nothing to Filipinos but heartache.