The country’s value for key mineral reserves increased by 32.2% from Php 285.81 billion in 2020 to Php378.04 billion in 2021, data from the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) said in a statement.
Reserves for Class A nickel increased in monetary value by more than 50% to Php 186.62 billion from Php 121.60 billion last year. However, the country’s physical reserves declined by 4.8% to 474.49 million metric tons (MT) from 498.68 million MT previously.
The monetary value of Class A gold reserves also increased by 12.7% to Php143.45 billion from Php127.31 billion previously, but actual reserves dropped 3.6% to 475.14 thousand kilograms in 2021 from 492.75 thousand kilograms in 2020.
Meanwhile, the monetary value of Class A Copper reserves jumped by 30.9% to Php46.38 billion in 2021 from Php 35.43 billion in 2020. However, actual reserves registered a slight decline of 1.6% to Php3.26 million MT from 3.31 million MT previously.
Class A chromite reserves registered a 9.55% increase in its monetary value to Php1.60 billion in 2021 from Php1.46 billion in 2020. Its actual reserves, however, decreased by less than a percent to 35.97 million MT in 2021 from 35.98 million MT in 2020.
The PSA’s valuation of the country’s mineral assets used the Net Present Value Approach as recommended by the System of Environmental-Economic Accounting 2012 Central Framework, using a ten percent discount rate.
