Austerity measures to combat negative effects of low metal prices

BAGUIO CITY November 19 Metallic mining companies are now constrained to implement stringent cost-cutting measures for them to survive the serious negative impact of the continuous decline of global metal prices while non-metallic companies are reaping the fruits of the government’s heavy spending on infrastructure development in the countryside, an official of the Philippine Mine Safety and Environment Association (PMSEA) said here recently.
Louie Sarmiento, PMSEA president, said metallic mining companies were constrained to implement stringent austerity measures over the past several months in order to significantly reduce their respective operating costs for them to survive the serious negative effects of the sudden drop in the world metal prices.
Experts in the mining industry predicted that the drop in the world metal prices will continue until 2-18 and that the temporary slump in the mineral industry will only be able to recover by the middle of 2019 or even beyond.
“The best thing for mining industry stakeholders to do is to reduce on unnecessary expenditures to be able to reduce their production cost while being able to cope up with the projected continuous drop in the world metal prices. The mining industry still remains vibrant amidst the projection of the worst case scenario,” Sarmiento stressed.
However, the PMSEA official pointed out the non-metallic companies are in a different situation because they are now the ones generating income from the government’s heavy spending on infrastructure development in the countryside.
He added the existence of more development projects in the countryside will definitely sustain the gains of the non-metallic mining companies which are banking on the country’s rich source of raw materials to be able to produce quality infrastructure products used in the lucrative construction industry.
For the past several years, Sarmiento admitted the non-metallic mining industry had not been enjoying a robust growth as what it has been enjoying lately, thus, most of the companies had been recording record-breaking income following full blast construction activities through the years.
He commended concerned government agencies and local governments for being able to bankroll the implementation of multi-billion infrastructure projects that will significantly contribute in increasing economic activities in the countryside because of good roads and generate employment opportunities for the people as well as uplift their living condition due to the existence of sustainable sources of income.
Sarmiento is optimistic that the metallic mining industry will be able to recover from the slump soon and prevent the occurrence of possible worst case scenario such as the retrenchment of workers and the subsequent closure of mining companies through wise decision-making in order to make do with what will be available for the meantime while awaiting the world metal prices to go back to its robust status in the coming years.