In a move to prevent further environmental damage in the 41 mining sites in the country, President Rodrigo Duterte reiterates his support to the open-pit mining ban but considers giving mining firms “enough elbow room for eventual change in the modality of getting what’s inside the bowels of the earth.”
The suspension was originally launched by then-DENR (Department of Environment and Natural Resources) Chief Gina Lopez during her 10-month service, contending that open-pit operations destroy opportunities in places where economic or agricultural productivity can be done.
Duterte, who last week had a televised speech on the matter, said that the extraction process was a “dangerous environmental activity”.
Current Environment Chief Roy Cimatu also echoed the President’s sentiments earlier in July, saying that he would not lift the ban until the government decides on the fate of the shuttered mines.
While open-pit mining is legalized by the national mining law, Lopez implemented the open-pit suspension on 26 out of the 41 mines across the country, which includes the $5.9 billion Tampakan copper-gold project in South Cotabato, Mindanao — the biggest mining venture yet.
The Tampakan open-pit mine venture was supposedly be carried out way back in 2010, but failed due to the open-pit mining suspension in the same year.
“I really don’t like Tampakan [project] at all,” Lopez told reporters. “It’s a 700-football field-size open-pit mine on top of ricefield and agricultural lands affecting four provinces and six rivers.”
Glencore Plc, a commodities trader that has taken an ownership interest in the copper-gold project, completed its exit in 2015.
Meanwhile, the Chamber of Mines of the Philippines (COMP) group is trying to convince the government otherwise, citing that open-pit mining can be done responsibly as it is “the only viable way” to extract minerals, such as ore, in the country.
“Open-pit mining per se is not bad. Compared to underground mining, open pit mining is safer. [It is] also cost efficient,” COMP spokesman Ronald Recidoro said.
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