Revival of mining industry urged

Trade and Industry Secretary Cesar V. Purisima yesterday reiterated his call for the revival of the mining industry. "The revival of the mining industry will definitely spur the development of the country’s economy," Purisima said.

Adding that "in the next five years we can expect to attract $3.2 billion in investments, export some $1.2-billion worth of minerals annually and generate P21 billion in tax revenues."

According to Purisima, mining projects would result in employment for 6,000 workers and create 36,000 indirect jobs.

"At the same time, some $312-million worth of funds per year would be used for the development of the countryside," he said.

At present, Purisima said, there are 12 projects in the pipeline.

These include the Rapu-Rapu polymetallic project of La Fayette Phils., Inc. in Albay; Rio Tuba HPAL project of Rio Tuba Mining Corp., in Palawan; Diwalwal Direct State Utilization Project of the government in Compostela Valley, Davao del Norte.

Purisima said, there are four other large-scale projects. These include the Didipio copper-gold project in Nueva Vizcaya; King King copper-gold project in Compostela Valley; Masbate gold project and the Tampakan copper project in South Cotabato.

Purisima said the mining industry, has vast linkages with various industries such as construction, transportation, communication, power, manufacturing, jewelry, housewares and appliances.

However, the DTI chief acknowledged that "large-scale mining projects are capital intensive and very risky."

The Philippines is richly endowed with world-class mineral resources, both metallic and non-metallic, Purisima said.

He also said that the country’s mineral resources are estimated to be worth $964.65 billion "but will remain to be just a potential if not developed."

Multinational corporations, because of their expertise, Purisima argued, are able to lower the risk of mining ventures because "their technical expertise and financial clout are able to spread to risk over a number of projects in various sites and in many countries."

"Even if we take the optimistic view of five percent of mineral finds become moderate successes, a company must be willing to lose money in some projects to come up with one moderately profitable venture," he said.

But more than that, Purisima said, "one great advantage of the mining sector over the other industries is that this sector has an almost 100 percent value-added which means that almost all of the elements of production are sourced locally."