BAGUIO CITY – The country’s mining industry is seriously lagging behind the similarly situated industries in the neighboring Association of Southeast Asian Nations (SEAN) countries which is having a negative impact on its contribution to the economy, an official of the Philippine Mine Safety and Environment Association (PMSEA) said here Tuesday.
PMSEA Director and Delta Minerals Global Pacific Inc. president Engr. Cornelio Q. Casido said that the situation of the country’s nickel, chromite and gold mining is a clear example of the prevailing situation in the world market wherein the Philippines was the major exporter of the said minerals but because of the stringent regulations governing the environment imposed by other countries, the nickel, chromite and gold exports of the country drastically dropped.
“We were confronted by serious environmental issues which were taken advantage by other countries importing our minerals. We were advised to first solve our environmental problems before our mineral exports will be accepted in other countries,” Casido stressed.
The PMSEA official claimed that previously the Philippines had been the top exporter of nickel and chromite but because of the reported violations of mining companies on existing environmental laws, rules and regulations, the country dropped to 8th place that caused a negative impact on the state of the country’s mineral industry over the past several years.
According to him, the government’s hardline position compelling mining companies to strictly adhere to responsible mining policies definitely contributed in improving the compliance rate of mining companies to the standards of the industry that resulted to the closure of companies who had not been doing things right that affected the industry.
Casido disclosed that another significant gain of the Duterte’s hardline position on responsible mining is that stakeholders are now empowered to raise their issues and concerns regarding the way mining companies do their trade, thus, mining companies have to work extra hard to ensure compliance to existing laws, rules and regulations to allow their continuous operations or else they will be imposed stringent penalties by the regulators for their identified violations.
He narrated that even a barangay officials in Mindanao is empowered to stop a boat loaded with minerals from leaving the ports once it will be discovered by the stakeholders that the documents of the minerals that are about to be shipped out are not complete, thus, the need for the companies to complete their documents before being allowed to leave the ports.
He explained the government was able to craft the necessary rules and regulations governing mining that is why the industry simply needs to comply with what had been prescribed to allow the co-existence among the stakeholders, the industry and the regulators as well as the environment where the minerals actually come from.
Casido revealed that interested stakeholders are welcome to visit their chromite mining in Mindanao for them to witness the compliance of mining companies to the stringent standards imposed by regulators on the extractive industry to make sure that the produced minerals will be able to adhere to the standards of the countries where the minerals are being shipped.
By HENT
