Philippines cancels environmental permits of three mines – Minister
MANILA – The Philippines has cancelled the environmental permits of three nickel mines and warned that three more producers were at risk of losing theirs, as the government intensifies a crackdown to curb damage to natural resources caused by the mining sector.
The world's top nickel ore supplier is currently reviewing hundreds of environmental compliance certificates (ECCs), including those granted to mines. This comes on the heels of a separate environmental audit of the country's 41 mines completed in August, full results of which will be released in January.
The audit has led to ten mines being halted while another 20 face suspension, stoking supply worries and spurring a 30 percent rally in global nickel prices this year.
"The filter in which every decision is made is based on the common good," Environment and Natural Resources Secretary Regina Lopez told a media briefing on Thursday.
Lopez said the ECCs of Ipilan Nickel and Lebach Mining, both nickel mines in western Palawan province, were revoked because of the companies' failure to comply with the conditions of their permits.
The ECC for a nickel mine in southern Davao Oriental province run by Austral-Asia Link Mining was also cancelled. The cancellation of the ECCs means the mines can no longer operate.
Three more nickel miners - Sinophil Mining and Trading, Century Peak and Wellex Mining - were issued "notice of adverse findings", she said.
COP OUT
The review of the environmental permits follows Lopez's findings that some mines were located near protected areas, as in the case of Austral-Asia. The agency has also cancelled ECCs of other non-mining projects, including a planned property development near a watershed.
"Because of this experience we have already decided that one of the policies of DENR (Department of Environment and Natural Resources) is not to give any ECC anymore ... because it's not fair to the company and it's a cop out," Lopez said.
"You should fulfil the conditions before (securing the ECC). You don't say yes and then you fulfil the conditions after," she added.
Benguet was also issued a show cause asking the miner to explain its failure to rehabilitate an old gold mine.
On the earlier audit, Lopez said the decision on how many more mines will be suspended will be announced in January.
She told Reuters on December 2 that more mines will be suspended as she fights environmental degradation.
The Philippines is the top nickel ore exporter to China, shipping 26.2-million tonnes in January-October, down 12.5% from a year ago.
Comments
Announcements
What's On
Subscribe to improve your user experience...
Option 1 (equivalent of R125 a month):
Receive a weekly copy of Creamer Media's Engineering News & Mining Weekly magazine
(print copy for those in South Africa and e-magazine for those outside of South Africa)
Receive daily email newsletters
Access to full search results
Access archive of magazine back copies
Access to Projects in Progress
Access to ONE Research Report of your choice in PDF format
Option 2 (equivalent of R375 a month):
All benefits from Option 1
PLUS
Access to Creamer Media's Research Channel Africa for ALL Research Reports, in PDF format, on various industrial and mining sectors
including Electricity; Water; Energy Transition; Hydrogen; Roads, Rail and Ports; Coal; Gold; Platinum; Battery Metals; etc.
Already a subscriber?
Forgotten your password?
Receive weekly copy of Creamer Media's Engineering News & Mining Weekly magazine (print copy for those in South Africa and e-magazine for those outside of South Africa)
➕
Recieve daily email newsletters
➕
Access to full search results
➕
Access archive of magazine back copies
➕
Access to Projects in Progress
➕
Access to ONE Research Report of your choice in PDF format
RESEARCH CHANNEL AFRICA
R4500 (equivalent of R375 a month)
SUBSCRIBEAll benefits from Option 1
➕
Access to Creamer Media's Research Channel Africa for ALL Research Reports on various industrial and mining sectors, in PDF format, including on:
Electricity
➕
Water
➕
Energy Transition
➕
Hydrogen
➕
Roads, Rail and Ports
➕
Coal
➕
Gold
➕
Platinum
➕
Battery Metals
➕
etc.
Receive all benefits from Option 1 or Option 2 delivered to numerous people at your company
➕
Multiple User names and Passwords for simultaneous log-ins
➕
Intranet integration access to all in your organisation