Ban on open pit mining stays – Palace

MANILA, Philippines — The ban on open pit mining stays despite the recommendation of the interagency Mining Industry Coordinating Council (MICC) to lift the ban, Malacañang said yesterday. 

“I verified this personally with the President, he says that the ban on new open pit mining remains,” presidential spokesman Harry Roque said in a press briefing. 

Former environment secretary Gina Lopez ordered the ban on open pit mining last April, saying tailings spills tied to the technique caused most of the mining disasters in the country.

Lopez, whose appointment was blocked by mining firms and subsequently rejected by the Commission on Appointments, also called open pit mining “a financial liability to government for life.”

Last September, President Duterte instructed Lopez’s successor Roy Cimatu to look into the eventual closure of open pit mining. 

“I agree with Gina Lopez. That that has to stop some time. But I’ll give the mining companies enough elbow room to make room for an eventual change or the modality of getting what’s inside the bowels of the earth,” the President said in a press conference last Sept. 5.

The following month, the MICC recommended the lifting of the ban on open pit mining provided that mining laws, rules and regulations are strictly enforced.”

The Chamber of Mines of the Philippines has welcomed the MICC recommendation, saying it would improve the investment climate of mining in the country. 

During his second State of the Nation Address, Duterte warned mining companies that he would tax them “to death” if they do not rehabilitate the areas damaged by their operations.