Canadian firms set to bring clean technology to Philippines

TORONTO, Canada – Several Canadian firms are set to introduce clean technology in the Philippines.

In an interview, Canadian Mining Suppliers managing director Roy Jakola said the group would likely embark on a trade mission in the Philippines possibly in September this year to introduce new developments with priority on clean technology.

“We have a lot of enthusiasm to bring in participants to the Philippines. We are now at the planning stage and we are pooling in companies,” Jakola told The STAR on the sidelines of the Prospectors & Developers Association of Canada Convention (PDAC) here.

Jakola, however, did not specify yet which companies would visit the Philippines but majority of which would come from Alberta, Ontario and Quebec.

The clean technology theme is related to what the Mining Association of Canada (MAC) is pursuing.

MAC is implementing the Towards Sustainable Mining (TSM) initiative, which the Philippines is also adopting.

The government has been urging the local mining industry to shape up and clean its mess to avoid suspension of operations.

“We want to work on sustainability because that is the future of mining and it is going to be a message that this is the future. Countries need to get on board and grow with it,” he said.

While the Philippine mining industry remains in a pit of uncertainty, Jakola is optimistic about how the country will surpass and move forward.

“Regionally, the Philippines is a powerhouse. I would say that it is actually more valuable than Indonesia because there are a lot of small mines.  But it really has to clean up and that is what we are here for.

Looking at it at a mining perspective, I look at the Philippines as a very seasoned mature mining country. I never looked at that because every country we go to, there are struggles and problems. Peru, for one, had a lot of problems but they managed to survive and come out of it,” he said.