MICC moves to lift open-pit mining ban

Published October 24, 2017, 10:01 PM By Chino S. Leyco

https://business.mb.com.ph/2017/10/24/micc-moves-to-lift-open-pit-mining-ban/

Environment Secretary Roy A. Cimatu said yesterday that he will lift the controversial ban on open-pit mine before the end of the year following the recommendation of the interagency Mining Industry Coordinating Council (MICC).

After the 28th MICC meeting at the Department of Finance yesterday, Cimatu announced that the interagency council, which he co-chaired with Finance Secretary Carlos G. Dominguez III, voted to recommend the lifting of open-pit mining method.

Asked if he will follow the recommendation of the MICC, Cimatu responded affirmatively. But before Cimatu issues a new department order to reverse the Department of Environment and Natural Resources’ (DENR) previous issuance on the open-pit mine, he said that they will consult first the MICC recommendation with other Cabinet members.

Cimatu, however, is confident that other Cabinet members would support the lifting after President Rodrigo R. Duterte himself stated that he is supporting the open-pit mining method as long as it is done responsibly.

“A majority of the members of the interagency MICC decided Tuesday to recommend the lifting of the ban on open-pit mining provided that laws and regulations governing this method of minerals extraction are strictly enforced by DENR,” Cimatu said.

The official also added the MICC agreed that it should be the DENR, through its Mines and Geosciences Bureau (MGB), to “take a close look and take appropriate action” on the issue involving the expansion of 24 mining areas covered by Mineral Production Sharing Agreements (MPSA).

On the “fact-finding and science-based” review of the first batch of 26 mines ordered either closed or suspended by the previous DENR leadership, Cimatu said the MICC expects preliminary results of the review in January next year and the final report by March.

The composition of the Technical Review Teams (TRTs) and the methodologies they will undertake to conduct the review were finalized in the second week of October, the DENR chief added.

As proposed by Dominguez, Cimatu, meanwhile, said the MICC agreed to conduct another review in 2019 and succeeding ones every two years thereafter, in keeping with the council’s mandate under Executive Order No. 79 on a review of all mining operations once every two years.

Last April 27 when the DENR was still under former Environment Secretary Regina Paz Lopez, it issued Department Administrative Order (DAO)-2017-10 imposing a ban on the open pit method of extraction for copper, gold, silver and complex ores.