Align mining rules to boost economy, think tank urges

MANILA, Philippines — The Philippines is losing billions of dollars in potential mining investments because of the policy stalemate plaguing the industry, according to an independent think tank.

Dindo Manhit, president of Stratbase ADR Institute, said while countries such as Australia and Indonesia managed to develop their mineral endowments as a strategic pillar of their economies, the Philippine mining industry has become stagnant, following the issuance of Executive Order 79 and DENR Administrative Order (DAO) 2017-10 on April 27, 2017 which effectively banned open pit mining.

 “Our ability to efficiently and sustainably harvest the country’s mineral wealth potential, estimated to be worth more than a trillion dollars, just sitting underground and basically untapped, has been mired in prolonged legal and regulatory challenges,” Manhit said during the Stratbase ADR Institute’s “Roundtable Discussion on the Open Pit Mining Ban” organized in partnership with the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) and the Philippine Business for Environmental Stewardship (PBEST).

“To put in perspective just how much opportunity we are losing, a 2016 list of just 11 pending projects was estimated to total over $23 billion in capital investments. Compare this to the official figures of the BSP on our total foreign direct investment from January to November last year which totaled only $9.06 billion,” Manhit said.

“Passing a new mining revenue law now pending in the Senate will resolve the impasse caused by EO 79 and will result in substantial revenue gains needed for President Duterte’s vision for economic and infrastructure development,” Manhit said.

Chamber of Mines of the Philippines chairman Gerard Brimo said EO 79 which imposed a ban on new mining applications and DAO 2017-10 made mining in the Philippines unattractive to investors.

Brimo identified three open pit projects that are now on hold due to the ban.  These include the Tampakan Copper Project, King-king Copper Gold Project, and Silangan Copper and Gold Project which are all located in Mindanao.