MANILA (Reuters) - The Philippines will suspend more of the country’s mines for violating environmental regulations after already halting operations at 10 sites, the mining minister said on Monday, as the government wrapped up a seven-week review.

The Southeast Asian nation, the world’s top nickel ore supplier, launched a review of the country’s 40 metallic mines on July 8. Eight of the 10 suspended so far produced nickel ore, and the closures and the risk of more mines being shuttered lifted nickel prices to a one-year high last month.

Environment and Natural Resources Secretary Regina Lopez declined to say how many more mines will be suspended but told Reuters that “there will absolutely be more suspensions”.

“All the suspensions are absolutely due to environmental reasons, and my particular interest is the wellbeing of the community, that’s my benchmark,” Lopez said in a text message.

“There will be large-scale mines to be suspended,” she told reporters later at a congressional hearing, without disclosing any names.

Three-month nickel on the London Metal Exchange was trading just above $10,000 a tonne on Monday, up about a third from February’s $7,550, its lowest since 2003.

Instead of this week as she had said earlier, Lopez said the additional mine suspensions will be announced next week.

“The audit is done. And it’s important to say that even as we suspend mines, we have put up an area development program. The commitment is in any suspended mines the people there will not lose work,” she said at the congressional hearing.

‘GAPING OPEN HOLES’

Lopez’s stance on mining is backed by President Rodrigo Duterte, who has previously warned miners to strictly follow tighter environmental rules or shut down, saying the nation could survive without a mining industry.

“We have had mining in this country for over a hundred years. And until now we don’t even have one rehabilitated mine site, not one,” Lopez said in the text message.

“Just gaping open holes, destroyed rivers, children with brain disease, so very sad,” she said, referring to sick children in the province of Marinduque, where a 1996 tailings leak at Canadian-owned Marcopper Mining Corp’s copper mine contaminated rivers.

Miners have claimed that the government’s environmental crackdown is a “demolition campaign” against them and have sought a meeting with Duterte.

The Philippines is the top nickel ore supplier to China, shipping 34 million tonnes in 2015. </s> The Southeast Asian nation, the world's top nickel ore supplier, launched a review of the country's 40 metallic mines on July 8 and has so far suspended 10, eight of them producing nickel ore. The closures and the risk of more mines being shuttered lifted nickel prices to a one-year high last month.

Environment and Natural Resources Secretary Regina Lopez declined to say how many more mines will be suspended but told Reuters that "there will absolutely be more suspensions".

"All the suspensions are absolutely due to environmental reasons, and my particular interest is the wellbeing of the community, that's my benchmark," Lopez said in a text message.

Three-month nickel on the London Metal Exchange was trading just above $10,000 a tonne on Monday.

"We have had mining in this country for over a hundred years. And until now we don't even have one rehabilitated mine site, not one," Lopez said in the text message.

"Just gaping open holes, destroyed rivers, children with brain disease, so very sad," she said, referring to sick children in the province of Marinduque where a 1996 tailings leak at Canadian-owned Marcopper Mining Corp's copper mine contaminated rivers.

Her stance on mining is backed by President Rodrigo Duterte who has previously warned miners to strictly follow tighter environmental rules or shut down, saying the nation could survive without a mining industry.

Miners have claimed that the government's environmental crackdown is a "demolition campaign" against them and have sought a meeting with Duterte.

The Philippines is the top nickel ore supplier to China, shipping 34 million tonnes in 2015. </s> MANILA (Reuters) - The Philippines has ordered a review of more than 100 proposals for small-scale mining sites across the country following a landslide that killed 62 people including illegal gold miners, its environment minister said on Tuesday.

The Southeast Asian nation has designated about 18 mining areas for small-scale mining locally known as Minahang Bayan. The areas are subject to rules regulating small-scale mineral extraction to ensure taxes are paid and environmental breaches are prevented.

“We will be stricter in approving Minahang Bayan sites, and affirm whether they conform to standards that are safe especially for the miners,” Environment and Natural Resources Secretary Roy Cimatu said in a statement.

There are more than 100 pending applications for Minahang Bayan, Wilfredo Moncano, the head of the Mines and Geosciences Bureau, told reporters.

The order comes a day after Cimatu halted all small-scale mining in the Cordillera region in northern Philippines after heavy rains from super typhoon Mangkhut triggered landslides on Saturday which some government officials and large miners said were exacerbated by illegal small-scale mining.

In the village of Ucab in the town of Itogon in the Cordillera, the death toll has reached 62 with more than 40 people still missing, said Francis Tolentino, an advisor to President Rodrigo Duterte and head of the government’s disaster coordination.

Some of those who died were illegally extracting for gold around the areas where Benguet Corp operated a mine that suspended operations in the 1990s.

Benguet Corp said in a statement to the Philippine Stock Exchange on Tuesday that the illegal mining and gold processing activities there “are without the permission” of the company.

The Philippines is the world’s No. 2 nickel ore supplier after Indonesia. The government’s focus on small-scale mining follows an earlier crackdown on larger miners many of which were ordered closed or suspended for environmental infractions.

Last month, a government panel said 23 of 27 mines reviewed for compliance with state regulations will continue to operate, while the remaining four that failed the audit could face closure. </s> MANILA (Reuters) - Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte repeated his call on Monday to shut all mines in the country following deadly landslides, hours after his minister halted all small-scale mining in a mountainous gold-rich region.

“If I were to try to do my thing I will close all mining in the Philippines,” he said, presiding over a televised meeting of the government’s disaster response team two days after a powerful typhoon struck.

Duterte has often criticized the mining industry, saying the environmental damage far outweighs any benefit to the economy.

His latest comments followed an order earlier by Environment and Natural Resources Secretary Roy Cimatu to stop all small-scale mining in the Cordillera region, where landslides killed 24 people.

“We have a problem with our mining industry. It has not contributed anything substantial to the national economy,” Duterte said. Shortly after he assumed office in 2016, he warned all miners to follow tighter environmental rules or to shut down, saying the nation could survive without a mining industry.

Mining accounts for less than 1 percent of the country’s gross domestic product, although only 3 percent of the 9 million hectares identified by the state as having high mineral reserves is being mined.

Mining has been a contentious issue in the Philippines, the world’s No. 2 nickel ore supplier after Indonesia, due to cases of environmental mismanagement.

The government estimates that 60-70 percent of small-scale miners in the country operate illegally, many of them digging for gold, silver and chromite.

Cimatu said he was also revoking temporary mining permits given to 10 associations in the Cordillera region in the wake of the landslides.

FILE PHOTO: President Rodrigo Duterte speaks after his arrival, from a visit in Israel and Jordan at Davao International airport in Davao City in southern Philippines, September 8, 2018. REUTERS/Lean Daval Jr.

Typhoon Mangkhut, which tore across the northern tip of the Philippines early on Saturday, killed at least 54 people, many of them due to landslides which some government officials and large miners said were exacerbated by illegal small-scale mining.

Some of those who died were illegally mining for gold near an abandoned bunkhouse owned by gold miner Benguet Corp, according to the Chamber of Mines of the Philippines.

The chamber, of which Benguet Corp is a member, said mining operators there had been repeatedly told to leave the area because of the threat of landslides. </s> MANILA, Sept 17 (Reuters) - Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte on Monday repeated his desire to shut all mines in the country following deadly landslides that some government officials and large miners said have been exacerbated by illegal small-scale mining.

“If I were to try to do my thing I will close all mining in the Philippines,” Duterte said, presiding over a televised meeting of the government’s disaster response team two days after a powerful typhoon struck.

Environment and Natural Resources Secretary Roy Cimatu earlier on Monday ordered all small-scale mining stopped in the Cordillera region, where landslides killed 24 people. </s> Philippine President, Rodrigo Duterte has repeated his call to shut all mines in the country following deadly landslides.

His comments come hours after his minister halted all small-scale mining in a mountainous gold-rich region and two days after a powerful typhoon slammed into the northern Philippines.

Duterte has often criticized the mining industry, saying the environmental damage far outweighs any benefit to the economy.

His latest comments followed an order earlier by Environment and Natural Resources Secretary Roy Cimatu to stop all small-scale mining in the Cordillera region, where landslides killed 24 people.

Typhoon Mangkhut, which tore across the northern tip of the Philippines early on Saturday (September 14), killed at least 54 people, many of them due to landslides which some government officials and large miners said were exacerbated by illegal small-scale mining. </s> President Rodrigo Duterte's warning on mining comes after Environment Secretary Roy Cimatu suspended small-scale mining operations in the Cordillera Administrative Region

MANILA, Philippines – President Rodrigo Duterte's anger over mining resurfaced as he visited Benguet where dozens perished in landslides near mining areas, prompting him to float the idea of "closing" the country's mining industry.

"One day, I will just have to confront Congress. Sabihin ko talaga sa kanila (I'll really tell them), we have to close the mining industry or better still, plan a period then give Mother Earth a respite [from] the continued endless digging," he said on Monday, September 17, during a situation briefing in La Trinidad, Benguet.

In the same meeting, he said stopping mining nationwide would require Congress to repeal the Philippine Mining Act. Since the start of his presidency, Duterte has opposed open-pit mining and agreed to a temporary open-pit mining ban.

He has also ordered mining companies to repair environmental damage and compensate farmers and fishermen whose livelihoods are affected by mining operations.

Earlier that day, Environment Secretary Roy Cimatu suspended all small-scale mining operations in the Cordillera Administrative Region as a response to the deaths of miners who died due to a landslide while trapped in a mining bunkhouse at the height of Typhoon Ompong (international name Mangkhut).

Duterte expressed approval of Cimatu's decision during the situation briefing.

But Itogon Mayor Victorio Palangdan appealed to Cimatu to allow certain small-scale operations to continue as long as they are not done in hazard-prone areas.

Local reporters had pointed out the loss of livelihoods of thousands who depend on the industry. – Rappler.com </s> The whir of choppers and the buzz of chain saws were all that was heard on Monday near the mining town of Itogon as workers looking for bodies dug through the mud using shovels and their bare hands — the ground too wet for heavy machinery.

Francis Tolentino, a senior adviser to President Rodrigo Duterte, estimated that nationwide 5.7 million people had been affected by the storm, which hit the country at the height of its powers, with wind speeds topping 150 miles per hour.

The authorities said the prospectors, some of whom are believed to be children, were working illegally at the mine site, which was shut down in the 1990s amid concerns of environmental degradation.

After Benguet Corp., the company that previously operated the mine, halted operations, thousands of individuals flocked to the site, known as Antamok, to work the tunnels started by the company.

“Before Ompong came, I asked them to leave,” Victorio Palangdan, the mayor of Itogon, said of the miners, using Typhoon Mangkhut’s local name. He said the workers at the camp told him that they had permission from Benguet Corp. to work the abandoned mine, a claim the company denied.

By some estimates, as many as 400,000 small-scale miners operate throughout the Philippines, digging in areas where such activity is outlawed and using banned toxic substances, including mercury, to process their finds.

Mr. Duterte inspected part of the disaster area on Sunday, and met with top officials in Tuguegarao City for a televised briefing on the damage and the recovery effort.

“I share the grief of those who lost their loved ones,” the president said.

At least 4 dead in China </s> Itogon Mayor Victorio Palangdan appeals to the Environment Secretary not to stop all the operations and to consult local governments and mining stakeholders first

MANILA, Philippines – Environment Secretary Roy Cimatu ordered a stop to all small-scale mining operations in Itogon, Benguet following the death and entrapment of miners due to landslides in the town caused by Typhoon Ompong (Mangkhut).

"I officially ordered cease and desist of illegal small-scale minng operations in the whole of Cordillera Administrative Region," said Cimatu on Monday, September 17 in a press briefing in Benguet.

Cimatu also ordered the revocation of small-scale mining permits issued for mining areas in Itogon.

"By virtue of what happened, I am revoking those permits, effective today," he said.

Cimatu's order comes after at least 30 people died after getting buried by landslides inside a mining bunkhouse owned by Benguet Corporation in the middle of landslides, according to a PhilStar report.

Itogon Mayor Victorio Palangdan said local police had tried to force those who took shelter in the bunkhouse to leave because of the precarious location of the building – near a mountain slope. But they resisted.

"The people laughed and showed their bunkhouse. Small-scale miners made it into a chapel and they said they will evacuate there if Ompong comes," said Palangdan in Filipino.

He also said the local government previously tried to keep the small-scale miners away from the area but they refused, claiming Benguet Corporation has allowed them to mine there and use the bunkhouse.

But Mayor Palangdan appealed to Cimatu not to stop all the small-scale mining operations since not all areas are as dangerous as the Benguet Corporation area.

"I am appealing to the Secretary that we should have first a technical conference to determine the areas that are dangerous and not to stop all the mining operations of the small scale [miners] because if you will visit the area, there area places where people can work without any harm to their health or life," said the local chief.

He stressed that the area is not covered by any small-scale mining permit because and that the Benguet Corporation mining tunnel there is "abandoned."

Palangdan asked Cimatu to hold a meeting with local government officials and mining stakeholders first.

Cimatu was asked at least thrice by local reporters if the government would provide alternative livelihood to those miners who would lose their source of income due to his order.

He, however, did not give a direct response, only saying that the miners, who he claims mostly come from Ifugao, would be returned to that province.

"Many of them are from Ifugao, we will see if we can bring them back to Ifugao," said Cimatu.

Presidential Spokesman Harry Roque later on said the miners could benefit from the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority (TESDA) or work in the agricultural sector.

Cimatu emphasized that the government must ensure small-scale miners are not allowed to live in areas identified as landslide-prone by the geohazard maps.

As of Monday morning, 54 people have died in the Cordillera region due to Ompong. – Rappler.com
Miners in the Philippines criticize the government after a crackdown on mining closed more nickel and copper mines.