The Philippine Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (PH-EITI) presented the first small-scale mining assessment to help bring a more comprehensive and a more inclusive view of the mining industry in the country.
Finance Assistant Secretary Ma. Teresa S. Habitan said that EITI stakeholders have been actively finding ways to capture the impact and the importance of small-scale mining operations in the country.
“We’re hoping to get more involved in small-scale mining (operations) particularly because it means more to the communities. The more that we’re able to get information to them on how to do better mining, I think it’s all going to benefit all communities,” Habitan was quoted as saying in a BusinessWorld report.
Moreover, according to Environment Undersecretary for Climate Change and Mining Concerns Analiza R. Teh, previous report showed that the small-scale mining sector not only encompasses thousands of workers but also accounts for a significant portion of the economy.
This transparency paves the way to an expected rise in payments made by extractive firms to account for their impact on the environment.
Aside from the data, PH-EITI also launched the pilot use of an online reporting tool, the expanded coverage of non-metallic mining, and the first-reports on beneficial ownership structures of companies in the industry.
