DENR to shorten permit process for mining

The Department of Environment and Natural Resources ( DENR) plans to implement “parallel” processing of mining permits this year to shorten bureaucratic approval of prospective mining operations to as fast as one year.

DENR Secretary Maria Antonia Yulo-Loyzaga said the agency is “committed” to exploring the “possibility” of parallel processing of various mining permits, doing away with the current systems of sequential approval.

Under parallel processing, mining permits that are not prerequisites for the securing of another government permit will be simultaneously processed by concerned government agencies.

This system, Loyzaga pointed out, would significantly shorten the current processing and approval time for all the necessary permits needed to operate a mine in the country.

Citing Special Assistant to the President on Investment and Economic Affairs Frederick Go, Loyzaga said the total time needed in securing all the necessary mining permits takes around six years. But Loyzaga said it could be even longer than that, based on industry reports.

Loyzaga said the DENR’s goal is to shorten the regulatory approval time to two to three years but noted that Go’s target is to make it within one to two years.

She said the long processing time is one of the identified roadblocks that derail mining investments in the country, therefore, hampering the growth of the industry.

“We are moving in the right direction. (Processing the permits sequentially) can really stretch the whole process but a realization that a lot of them are unnecessary to be sequential can radically improve the speed of processing the permits,” Go said.

On top of this, Loyzaga said the DENR is keen on completing the full digitization of the processing of exploration permits (EPs) and Mineral Production Sharing Agreements (MPSAs) by yearend.

Loyzaga tapped PwC and Deloitte in digitizing the mining processes of the Mines and Geosciences Bureau, an attached agency of the DENR.

“We have embarked on a couple of projects with PwC and Deloitte in digitizing MGB data and mapping the MGB procedures to find how we can further reduce the processing time,” Loyzaga said.

Beyond the streamlining, Loyzaga said the DENR has required the impact evaluation of prospective mine operations to not just the environment but also to significant historical, cultural and protected areas and figures in the country.

Loyzaga said they are now requiring the proximity to protected areas and historically and culturally important sites in the application for Environmental Compliance Certificates.