Key mineral reserves rise in 6 years

MANILA, Philippines — The country’s reserves of three key minerals – nickel, chromite and gold – rose over a six year period while copper reserves remained stable, the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) said yesterday.

The PSA’s Mineral Accounts of the Philippines 2013-2018 showed total nickel reserves increased by 1.5 percent to 2.05 billion metric tons (MT) in 2018 from 2.02 billion MT in 2013.

This was mainly attributed to reappraisals recorded during the period, with a net total of more than 158 million MT.

Class A reserves, or the portion of the total reserves which is commercially recoverable, decreased from 1.03 billion MT in 2013 to 0.95 billion MT in 2018

Nickel extraction was stable during the period, ranging from 25 to 35 million MT, with the highest recorded in 2014.

Total gold reserves in the country, meanwhile, increased by 0.8 percent to 4.89 million kilograms (kg) in 2018 from 4.85 million kg in 2013 also because of reappraisals totaling more than 0.13 million kg.

Class A reserves, increased by 19.5 percent from 0.543 million kg to 0.649 million kg because of the combined effect of reappraisals and reclassifications.

Gold extraction ranged at a level of 0.01 to 0.02 million kg, with the highest recorded in 2017.

The total chromite reserves in the country, meanwhile, increased by 11.2 percent from 40.34 million MT in 2013 to 44.86 million MT in 2018 because of reappraisals.

Class A chromite reserves decreased by 61.3 percent from 8.58 million MT to 3.32 million MT in 2018 mainly due to reclassifications and extraction.

The largest level of extraction for chromite was recorded in 2014 at 47,060 MT while the lowest was registered in 2015 at 15, 500 MT.

From 2013 to 2018, total copper reserves in the country remained in the same level of around 1.14 billion MT mainly because of inactivity of copper reserves. Class A reserves increased, from 4.25 million MT to 135.75 million MT, due to reclassification.

Copper extraction declined throughout the six-year period, with 83.8 percent of the reserves not being extracted. The lowest level of extraction was seen in 2017.

These metallic minerals are valuable to the economy as these are used in construction, electronics and machinery, among others.

The Mineral Accounts of the Philippines provides information on the stocks and changes in stocks of the four metallic mineral reserves.

These allow for the monitoring of the sustainability of the extraction of these valuable yet depletable natural assets.