To the chagrin of environmental advocates, the Department of Environment and Natural Resources is allowing beginning early January, open pit mining operations. This was banned previously by the late DENR Secretary Regina Lopez. “This is a cruel Christmas gift from DENR,” an anti-mining group said.
THE Department of Environment and Natural Resources in issuing Administrative Order 2021-40 last December 23 is now allowing open pit mining to resume and lifted the 4-year- old ban on such activity imposed by the late DENR Secretary Regina Lopez.
The order was published in a newspaper last December 25 and will take effect 15 days later or early January 2022.
Severe damages
Though the resumption of open pit mining was hailed by the moneyed class and their foreign investors under the Chamber of Mines of the Philippines, environmental advocates warned that this could lead to further environmental damage considering the severity of natural disasters affecting the country.
“We had pushed for its approval because the MGB initiated the memo to the Office of the President, offering the mining sector as a potential contributor to the recovery of the economy ravaged by the pandemic,” MGB Director Wilfredo G. Moncano said told Reuters.
Cruel gift
In a statement, the anti-mining group Alyansa Tigil Mina (ATM) said it is deeply dismayed by the lifting of the ban on open-pit mining.
“This is a cruel Christmas gift from DENR and a truly ironic act of cowardice and betrayal from DENR Secretary Cimatu and President Duterte,” it said.
“At this time when climate change brings devastating typhoons such as Odette, lifting the ban on open-pit mining is a short-sighted and misplaced development priority of the government,” the group said.
“Once again, the Duterte regime puts more premium to its flawed economic agenda categorizing destructive mining as an ‘essential industry’ as part of the pandemic recovery,” ATM added.
Contraction
The Philippine economy contracted by a record 9.6 percent in 2020 due to the coronavirus pandemic. The mining sector accounted for P102.3 billion, equivalent to 0.6 percent of gross domestic product (GDP) growth in 2020.
In April this year, President Rodrigo R. Duterte signed Executive Order No. 130 that lifted the nine-year moratorium on new mineral agreements.
The DENR is hoping to revive the mining industry through the lifting of the ban on open pit mining. It said the move will help create much-needed jobs and provide raw materials for the development of other industries.
Open pit mining
Open pit mining is a globally accepted method, DENR said. It is defined as “the process of mining any near-surface deposit by means of a surface pit excavated using one or more horizontal benches.”
“There are best practice control strategies and technologies that can help avoid or manage the negative impact of open pit mining,” the DENR said, adding that major issues concerning mining can be attributed to accidents, not the method itself.
The DENR said mining tenement holders should ensure that using the open pit mining method will not pose hazards to public health and do not release hazardous chemicals into the environment.
The mining firms should prevent acid rock drainage and other heavy metals that may contaminate land and water bodies, as well as reduce the use of freshwater resources.
“We welcome the decision to lift the ban on open pit mining,” Chamber of Mines of the Philippines (CoMP) Vice-President for Communications Rocky G. Dimaculangan said.
Economic recovery
“As most mining applications propose the use of the open pit method, this decision will enable the industry to contribute more to our country’s economic recovery, particularly from the devastating effects of this ongoing pandemic through investment promotion, job creation, and poverty alleviation.”
Dimaculangan said thousands of mines, including those in Australia, Canada and the United States, allow open pit mining. He noted open pit mines can be operated safely and rehabilitated properly.
Short-sighted
Meanwhile, Alyansa Tigil Mina in a statement criticized the Duterte administration for allowing open pit mining to resume, saying it is “short-sighted” and shows its “misplaced development priority.”
Reuters said the Philippines’ annual export revenue from its mineral extraction industry could increase by up to $2 billion over the next five to six years as new mining projects take off, citing the government.
The Philippines is China’s biggest supplier of nickel ore and also has substantial copper and gold reserves.
More than a third of the Philippines’ total land area of 30 million hectares (74.1 million acres) has been identified as having “high mineral potential,” but only less than 5 percent of its mineral reserves has been extracted so far, according to the MGB.
Philex Mining Corp. is one of the Philippine units of Hong Kong-based First Pacific, the others being Metro Pacific Investments Corp. and PLDT, Inc. Hastings Holdings, Inc.
Safest, fastest
Most mining companies prefer to use open-pit mining, which is considered the safest, fastest and most economically feasible way to extract minerals.
To recall, a similar ban on open-pit mining caused the delay of the multibillion Tampakan Copper-Gold Project in Mindanao on account of a local ordinance passed by the Province of South Cotabato even before Lopez, an anti-mining advocate, imposed the ban during her short stint as DENR Secretary.
According to COMP, thousands of mines worldwide have adopted open-pit mining, the primary method of extracting ores, particularly gold, including in Australia, Canada, and the USA.
“There are economic, safety, and environmental considerations for employing this method. Where underground mining cannot be applied, the open-pit method is primarily employed although there are other forms of surface mining,” the group said.
“The shape nature and location of the ore body determine the mining method. Open-pit mines can be operated safely, according to globally accepted standards, and can be rehabilitated properly in a manner that provides alternative and productive land use after the life of the mine,” COMP added.
Lopez’ s DAO 2017-10 decried open-pit mines as a perpetual liability for the government and asserted that it caused “adverse impacts to the environment, particularly due to the generation of acidic and/or heavy metal-laden water, erosion of mine waste dumps and/or vulnerability of tailings dams to geological hazards.”
DAO 2021-40, however, said open-pit mining method is a globally- accepted method of mining and is considered to be the most feasible option for mining near-surface or shallow ore deposits.
The signing of DAO 2021-40 was recommended by members of a technical working group of DENR.
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