Opponents of mining, particularly those associated with a group gathering signatures to save a certain province from the alleged ills of mining, have craftily focused on, among others, the question of which has greater weight: the protection of the environment or the benefits from mining, including, but not limited to, jobs, infrastructure, revenues/taxes and community development, implying that the protection of the environment and responsible mineral development are mutually exclusive.
This approach overly simplifies the discussion as proponents of responsible and sustainable mining would be just as concerned about the protection of the environment and companies engaged in mining would have to strictly comply with the provisions of the Mining Act which ensure this. For example, throughout the different stages of a mining project, a mining company would be required to have an Environmental Work Program during the exploration stage, an Environmental Protection and Enhancement Program during the development and production stage, and a Final Mine Rehabilitation or Decommissioning Plan during the mine-closure stage.
Without dismissing the fact that there are irresponsible miners who give the mining industry a black eye, we must still ask the questions: Is mining inherently bad? What would our world be like without mining?
From the moment we wake up until we end our day, our activities are made possible, or are aided, by mining.
The alarm clock that awakens you and the coffee maker that delivers your morning brew (not to mention the TV or radio you switch on as you prepare for your day) are likely plugged to an electrical socket. Electricity runs through copper wires, which come from a copper mine by means of a series of processes until molten copper can be cast into anodes, which are refined to make copper rods, which are then heated and extruded to make copper coils before finally being made into copper wires.
Electricity is transmitted through power lines from a power plant made of concrete and steel. Power distribution requires structural steel. Steel requires iron ore.
Concrete, on the other hand, is made with sand, crushed rock aggregates and cement. Cement is made of limestone and other materials.
To take a shower, you need water that flows from steel or copper pipes. From the reservoir to your home, water flows through large concrete conduits.
Your toilet and bathroom tiles are ceramic products which cannot be produced without clay mined from a clay pit. Waste water, likewise, leaves your house through cast iron pipes, then goes through large concrete sewer pipes.
The toiletries and cosmetics you need for your personal hygiene and grooming, such as toothpaste, baby powder and skin cream, contain minerals. At breakfast, you most likely take the food to be cooked from a refrigerator made from steel, aluminum, copper, plastics and paints. You probably also take vitamins and minerals, including iron, zinc, chromium and potassium.
These activities probably account for only the first hour of our day, and do not even include the vehicles we need to get to work, our mobile phones, computers, office equipment and other necessities and conveniences of modern life, which are either made from minerals or rely on minerals for their production.
The average car is made by combining at least 39 different minerals and metals, each performing a special function when used in combination with the other. The more obvious of these are iron and steel, which account for 2,124 pounds of a 2,600- to 3,000- pound car.
Mobile phones (ubiquitous in the Philippines, which is still the text messaging capital of the world) contain arsenic (gallium arsenide in the amplifier and receiver), copper (circuitry), gold (circuitry), magnesium compounds (phone case), palladium (circuitry), silver (circuitry), tungsten (circuitry), as well as petroleum products.
If you do not want, or do not know how, to use computers, you would probably opt to use a pencil, which, unsurprisingly, also depends on mining. The metal band which holds together the wooden part of the pencil and the eraser is made from aluminum or brass, which is, in turn, made from copper and zinc. The paint used to color the wood of the pencil and the glue that holds the wood together are also products of mining.
Even the magazines that we read are printed on paper that contains limestone, gypsum, kaolin (clays), sulfur, magnesium, chlorine, sodium, titanium, carbon, calcium and a few other special minerals.
The proponents of the abovementioned antimining signature campaign champion tourism as the better alternative to mining. However, I cannot imagine developing a tourism industry (even one centered on ecotourism) without airports and roads which require minerals and the products of mining. Certainly, anyone traveling to that island-paradise from other parts of the Philippines or from overseas would need to hop on an airplane made of aluminum alloys and titanium, among others.
It has been said that if a substance cannot be grown, such as wood, then it must be extracted from the earth. However, many things grown from the earth would not grow without the aid of mineral resources used in fertilizers or agricultural tools.
Why then is the need for mineral resources in our day-to-day lives not fully appreciated?
The role of mining and minerals in modern society is little understood because the identity of the minerals is sometimes not apparent in the finished product. The public is commonly aware that petroleum is required to run our cars. However, a car buyer would not ordinarily think that he is buying a composite of iron, manganese, chromium, lead, zinc, platinum, copper, aluminum and many other materials, each essential to some part of the automobile.
Calcium, iron, manganese, zinc and other essential elements are invisible in the food we eat, in the same manner that minerals used in the implements, machinery and fertilizers of modern agriculture are not visible in the product. Out of about 100 mineral commodities used by society today, all of them are used directly or indirectly by the electronics industries and in the production of computers. Thus, even the microphones, bullhorns, laptops and projectors used by antimining activists to proclaim their message require mining.
It is evident that, without mining, the world as we know it would grind to a halt. It is for this very reason that those in the mining industry have as much at stake, if not greater, in preserving the environment and ensuring sustainable development. After all, the best way to convince the public of the merits of mining is to ensure that a community where a mining company operates not only survives, but thrives, and is better off after the end of the mining.
Patricia A. O. Bunye is a senior partner at Villaraza Cruz Marcelo & Angangco (www.cvclaw.com). She heads CVCLAW’s Mining and Natural Resources and Power & Energy practice groups, and also focuses on IP Commercialization. She may be reached at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .
Disclaimer:
This article has been prepared for informational purposes only and should not be treated as legal advice.
