The Mines and Geosciences Bureau (MGB) on Thursday urged the government to take the lead role in promoting the country’s mining industry sector.
At the same time, the MGB, the government’s mining regulatory body, said mining companies should intensify information, education and communication programs with various stakeholders.
Speaking during the Mining Philippines 2018 Conference and Exhibition at the Sofitel Hotel in Pasay City, MGB Assistant Director Danilo Uykieng said that the government and its private mining contractors should work hand in hand to communicate with the larger stakeholders.
He said as partners, the government and the mining industry should be more engaging. “It is timely that we have to communicate more often. We have to engage not only with regulators but directly to communities. If they understand, they will not ask questions,” he pointed out.
Uykieng represented MGB Director Wilfredo Moncano and presented the government’s policy direction toward mining sustainability.
As part of MGB’s effort to develop the sector, the agency is now pushing for policy changes, such as the lifting of the moratorium on mineral exploration, he said.
“We do believe that exploration should always be the first entry into mining. Without it, we can’t determine our mineral potentials and where mining existing operations should be going,” Uykieng said.
“We want to balance things. The government is a business partner and a regulator,” he added.
During the conference, Johannes Raadsma, chairman of Philippine Gold Processing and Refining Corp., agreed that there is really a need to allow exploration in the Philippines to drive the mineral sector’s sustainability.
“We have mineral resources that we don’t track. The potential is much greater. How do we get to that potential? The Philippines is one of the largest and well-endowed countries in the world without exploring and proper exploration,” Raadsma said.
She noted that the country, which still has billions of dollars worth of untapped mineral resources, only hosts 50 operating metallic mines, consisting of 30 nickel mines, eight gold with silver as co-product, four copper with gold and silver as co-products, three chromite and five iron mines.
These are in addition to the numerous small-scale gold mining operations across the country. “With the Philippines’s long history and experience in mining, it has demonstrated its very rich potential for copper, gold, nickel, chromite and other metallic minerals through the commercial operation of numerous mines,” the MGB earlier said.
In its estimates, the MGB said that aside from being one of the world’s largest nickel-producer, the country’s total estimated gold reserves in 2016 also stood at 1.9 billion metric tons (MT) with an average grade of 0.16 grams per ton, while silver has 1.7 billion MT with an average grade of 1.27 grams per ton. Copper reserves, on the other hand, were estimated to be around 1.8 billion MT, while iron and nickel have reserves of 116 million MT and 116.14 million MT, respectively. Chromite’s reserves stood around 47.3 million MT.