A group of experts and researchers blamed the recent crackdown and anti-mining policy of the Philippine government as the cause for missed business opportunities and stagnant growth of the mining industry in the country.
The mining industry has become stagnant over the past few years after new projects and open pit mining were banned according to Stratbase ADR Institute, an independent strategic research organization.
“Our ability to efficiently and sustainably harvest the country’s mineral wealth potential, estimated to be worth more than a trillion dollars, just sitting underground and basically untapped, has been mired in prolonged legal and regulatory challenges,” Stratbase president Dindo Manhit was quoted as saying in an article by Philstar.com.
In fact, as of 2016, a list of 11 projects with estimated total to over $23 billion in capital investments are halted and in pending status.
The Chamber of Mines of the Philippines chairman Gerard Brimo said on the same Philstar.com article that EO 79, which imposed a ban on new mining applications, and DAO 2017-10 made mining in the Philippines unattractive to investors.
Mindanaoan sites of Tampakan Copper Project, King-king Copper Gold Project, and Silangan Copper and Gold Project were identified by Brimo as possible contributors of P 12 billion to the national government and P 1.5 billion to the local government in yearly revenue if not put on hold due to the ban on open pit mining.
However, a new mining revenue law is now pending in the Senate and its passing, according to Manhitof Stratbase, will resolve the effects on the industry caused by EO 79. This is also expected to result in a substantial revenue gains needed for President Duterte’s economic and infrastructure development vision.
Sharing the same views is the Philippine Business for Environmental Stewardship (PBest), saying that the government should prioritize aligning policies in order to develop resource potential of the Philippines.
PBest, however, stressed the importance of strictly enforcing existing environmental regulations to harness mineral resources while aligning policies.
