THE Mines and Geosciences Bureau (MGB) is set to issue a revised guideline for the operation of small-scale mining next month.
MGB Director Leo Jasareno said the revised guideline for small-scale mining, particularly covering the application and designation of Minahang Bayan, is on its final and finishing touches.
“We are now on the finishing touches of crafting the guideline for the Minahang Bayan. Next month we will sign it already,” he said.
Jasareno said the MGB is now accepting applications for Minahang Bayan, but said that implementation of reforms being introduced by Executive Order 79, signed by President Aquino in 2011, is not yet fully enforced without the guideline.
He said reforms in small-scale mining will be introduced in the revised guidelines such as the ban on the use of mercury, a toxic heavy metal; establishment of centralized processing plants in Minahang Bayan; and transferring the authority to issue permit from the provincial governor to a local mining board.
Jasareno said from the Office of the Governor alone, the authority to issue a permit will be transferred to the Provincial Mining Regulatory Board. This, he said, is the most contentious issue in the guideline.
As for enforcement, Jasareno added the Department of Environment and Natural Resources is coordinating with law-enforcement agencies, such as the Department of Justice, the National Bureau of Investigation, the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) and the Philippine National Police.
He said the DILG had issued several memorandum circulars to local government units in connection with small-scale mining activities, including black-sand mining, which is rampant in coastal towns in the Ilocos and Cagayan Valley regions.
There are around 300,000 small-scale mining companies operating in various parts of the country, digging tunnels for gold ores. Gold panning is also rampant in rivers and river tributaries near mines.
Small-scale mining has been identified as a big contributor to the country’s annual gold production in the past, but, lately, gold buying by the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas from small-scale miners have dropped substantially, indicating that gold produced by small-scale miners go to the black market or, worse, smuggled out of the country.