ENVIRONMENT Secretary Maria Antonia Yulo-Loyzaga reported an increase in revenues from mining in the first semester of 2022, adding that she is still awaiting the final figures for the year.
Yulo-Loyzaga added that based on the report from the DENR-Mines and Geosciences Bureau (MGB), the country still has 9 million hectares of highly mineralized lands with value of $7 trillion metallic and non-metallic minerals.
“We need to be able to enjoy these economic gains but also balance the environmental protection side for the mining industry. It’s quite positive. I can’t give you the figures yet because we need to wait for the final year,” she said.
Yulo-Loyzaga has said that the revitalization of the mining industry is now part of the priority programs of the administration of President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr.
She noted that the lifting of the moratorium of open-pit mining helped to revive the industry.
“Since that [moratorium] has actually been lifted, US corporations are, in fact, gearing toward actually stepping up operation already,” she noted.
The secretary also said the DENR is implementing a mitigation hierarchy to address the possible impact of mining operations in the communities and in the environment.
“Our framework now at the department is really the mitigation hierarchy, where we cannot avoid an impact, will seek to reduce it, minimize it, where we cannot minimize it, mitigate it and finally, if we cannot mitigate it, there must be some way to compensate,” Yulo-Loyzaga explained.
She added that the Environment department is now working to strengthen its capacity to promote responsible mining in the country.
“The biggest challenge of the DENR is budget-wise, people-wise and technology-wise, we are not ready to be able to protect this level of resource. This is why the national natural resource geospace database is very important. We must be able to measure, must be able to value and invest, so that this can contribute to a sustainable and resilient development plan for our country,” she added.
At the same time, Yulo-Loyzaga assured that the DENR is pushing for the review of the Small-Scale Mining Act to protect the small-scale miners.
“One of the ways that we are looking at helping small-scale miners is to adopt what we are calling ‘big brother, small brother approach.’ We are hoping that some of the large companies can help us with the social protection and environmental protection side for the small-scale miners,” she said.