Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez III
MANILA – The government is firm on reviving its mining assets to boost job opportunities and lift economies around the mine sites, Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez III said.
“Definitely, we are pushing for the revival of the mining industry,” he said during the press conference of the two-day Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry’s (PCCI) 46th Philippine Business Conference and Expo that started Wednesday.
Dominguez said the mining sector “provides jobs in areas where there are no other alternative jobs”.
He said the Privatization Management Office (PMO) completed a few days ago the review of the mining assets held by the government.
He, however, did not disclose the results of the review.
Dominguez said he has asked for the revival of the privatization of Nonoc Nickel Mines in Surigao City and the copper mines in Basay, Negros Oriental, among others.
“We are also working very closely with the DENR (Department of Environment and Natural Resources) and the MGB (Mines and Geosciences Bureau) to really push mining to operate,” he added.
Aside from these two mining areas, the government also has stakes in the pyrite and copper mines of Philippine Pyrite Corp. in Bagacay and Hinabangan, Western Samar, and the Sta. Inez and Batong Buhay mines of the Maricalum Mining Corp. in Sipalay, Negros Occidental.
The government has ordered an audit of the various mining areas around the country to address the impact of mining operations on the environment.
In 2018, the inter-agency Mining Industry Coordinating Council (MICC) tapped experts from the mining industry and the academe to audit 26 firms that were ordered closed by then Environment and Natural Resources Secretary Regina Lopez. (PNA)
