BAGUIO CITY – The Philippine Mine Safety and Environment Association (PMSEA) urged mining companies operating in the different parts of the country to establish solid and formidable relationships with their host and neighboring communities to ensure the sustainable conduct of their operations even beyond their prescribed mine life.
PMSEA president and ASEAN Engineer Luis R. Sarmiento pointed out that one of the major concerns of mining companies is the strengthening of their relations with their host and neighboring communities to ensure the sustainable conduct of their operations and guarantee the overall development in the areas where their operations are being done.
He said that the implementation of their respective corporate social responsibility projects in their places of operation will not be sufficient in convincing people to support mining, thus, the need for mining companies to elevate their engagements with their communities to a higher level to be able to build solid and formidable relations which could not be easily raptured.
Some 4,000 mining industry stakeholders are in the city for the conduct of the Annual National Mine Safety and Environment Conference with the theme ‘Endurance and Invocation towards Sustainability.’
The PMSEA official stipulated that the journey towards establishing and building solid relations with host and neighboring communities will surely go a long way but mining companies should look into avenues by which to achieve such a bond that will contribute in ensuring sustainable operations coupled with growth and development in the places where mining exists.
According to him, mining companies have gained ground in the conduct of responsible mining and adherence to safety standards based on the recent evaluation for those qualified for the Presidential Minerals Industry and Environmental Awards but it is more important to strengthen their relations with their respective communities to realize sustainable mining operations.
Based on the latest data obtained from the Mines and Geosciences Bureau, the country has more than three million hectares of untapped mineralized lands and that the contribution of mining to the country’s gross domestic product is only 0.5 percent.
Sarmiento claimed that the participation of some 121 companies and 59 sponsor in this year’s week-long conference is a testament of the vibrance of the country’s mineral industry but more work should be done to continue increasing their participation to the annual event to guarantee the realization of responsible mining in their operations for the benefit of their host and neighboring communities.
He emphasized that mining remains to be a catalyst of the country’s overall growth and development amidst its meager contributions to the gross domestic product but the mining communities are in the best position to talk about the contributions of mining in improving the socio-economic activities in their respective places amidst the various issues being raised against mining. By Dexter A. See
