Small-scale miners need to obey a new set of rules ordered by the Provincial Mining Regulatory Board (PMRB) of Benguet before a temporary permit can be given to them to operate in a Minahang Bayan.
The temporary small-scale mining permit (TSSMP) having a six-month long legal operation within the declared Minahang Bayan area will be given to qualified small-scale miners.
Benguet governor and PMRB co-chair Crescensio Pacalso said the board approved a resolution providing guidelines to be followed in the processing and awarding of TSSMP.
According to Benguet governor Pacalso, the PMRB of the province already approved temporary permit requests for several small-scale miners.
The qualifications for approval are the following: small scale mining operation must be existing before August 1, 1987; the area applied for should be within the declared Minahang Bayan; and the applicant should be registered with the PMRB-Benguet and a member of the Indigenous Peoples in the area.
Pacalso also added the need for miners to comply with the requirement of having one area for mining extraction and tailings depository.
However, PMRB-Benguet clarified that the policies and procedures for the awarding of TSSMP may or may not be approved by the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR).
The copies of the TSSMP awarding policies and procedures were already submitted to the DENR Secretary Roy Cimatu through Mines and Geosciences Bureau (MGB) director of Mines Wilfredo Moncano.
Aside from the TSSMP, small-scale miners also need to secure small-scale mining license (SSML) which is prerequisite to have a small-scale mining contract (SSMC) in the Minahang Bayan areas.
The PMRB-Benguet passed several resolutions during the special meeting held on January 25 resulting to new approved guidelines for both SSML and SSMC applications.
Although the board declared Minahang Bayan, clearance for the operation must be secured from the DENR Secretary, the governor added.
