DAVAO CITY—Gold produced from panning and small-scale mining still accounts for about 80 percent of the total production of this precious metal in the country, the National Statistical Coordination Board (NSCB) said.

Maria Fe Talento, OIC-chief of the Production Accounts Division of the central office of the NSCB, said the small gold-rich areas in the Davao region, most of them in the Compostela Valley area, accounted for about 45 percent of all the contribution of small-scale mines in the country.

She said, however, the low world prices of all metals have also stymied mining in all areas for all metals in the country, and brought down productivity of the entire sector in mining and quarrying last year.

She said gold production went down to 1.9 percent last year.

The Mines and Geosciences Bureau (MGB) has placed production of gold at 37,490 kilograms in 2005, estimated to value $28.303 million.

Small-scale mining could be found in more than 30 provinces in the country, with as many as 200,000 persons directly engaged in this activity, said the Philippines International Review, a quarterly publication of the Philippine-European Solidarity Centre.

In the Davao region, the more famous sites are found in Diwalwal, Monkayo town, and Boringot in Pantukan town, all in Compostela Valley province. The town of Maco in the same province also hosts smaller gold-mining activities.

It said small-scale miners account for a significant volume of the total gold production in the Philippines. In 1994 they produced almost half, or 46 percent, of the 27,059 kilograms of gold produced in the country.

The US-based ZNext Mining Corp., also citing MGB, said “worldwide, the Philippines had been an important gold producer, ranking 29th in 2002”. In 1988 the country placed second to South Africa in terms of gold production per unit land area.

It said the country’s total production from 1946 to 2003 reached 1,172,912 kg of gold and valued at about P225 billion.

Small-scale mining is covered by Republic Act 7076, the People’s Small Scale Mining Act, passed into law on June 27, 1991, and its implementing rules finalized in July 1992.

The act defines small-scale mining as mining that relies heavily on manual labor using simple implements and methods that do not use explosives or heavy mining equipment, the Philippines International Review said.

But the general low prices of metals in the world has also hit the country’s economy badly, coming closely at the heels of official pronouncements that placed mining as one of the priority areas to generate foreign-direct investments.

The Davao region, for instance, part of the rich eastern mineral belt, has listed heavily in mining and quarrying due to the inactivity in the mining sector. Last year it posted a negative 8.7 percent in performance, from also low performance of only 9.6 percent in 2007.

Mining and quarrying was the only area that went below zero in the industry sector, although the rest of the sectors posted low growths. Manufacturing went down to 8.1 percent from 5.8 percent over the same period, electricity and water, down to 4 percent, from 5 percent, and construction dipping to 5.7 percent from a high of 27 percent in 2007.

Overall, the industry sector plummeted to 5.5 percent last year, from 11.4 percent in 2007.