KORONADAL CITY -- Fifty-one mining applications have been rejected in Central Mindanao in line with the government’s “use it or lose it” policy to revive the mining industry, officials said.
Constancio Paye Jr., Mines and Geosciences Bureau (MGB) regional director, said there was a total of 69 mining applications that were reviewed across the region in line with the policy that aims to give serious investors the chance to utilize prospective mineralized zones.
While the regional MGB office rejected 51 applications, it endorsed to the main office 18 others for possible approval.
"We denied their applications for failure to submit the necessary requirements, mainly the FPIC [Free and Prior Informed Consent] from the tribal communities despite repeated reminders," Paye said.
An FPIC is a document where indigenous peoples give their consent for companies to operate in their ancestral lands.
Paye noted the disqualified mining companies are mostly based in Metro Manila and without any foreign backing.
Based on the regional MGB records, these companies have land applications ranging from 637 to 16,535 hectares in the different parts of Central Mindanao, a region covering the provinces of South Cotabato, North Cotabato, Sultan Kudarat and Sarangani.
Hernani Abdon, MGB regional licensing and records division chief, said the purged mining companies have pending applications since 2008 and earlier.
Environment Secretary Ramon Paje earlier directed the field offices to conduct a crackdown to cleanse non-moving mining applications as part of the government’s thrust to reform the mining sector.
MGB records earlier showed that there were at least 2,180 pending mining applications filed in various MGB regional offices.
Soccsksargen hosts the largest known undeveloped copper gold resources in Southeast Asia, a project pursued by Sagittarius Mines. Inc, which is controlled by Xstrata Copper, the world’s fourth largest copper producer.
Discovered in 1992, the Tampakan copper-gold deposit is 2.4-billion ton-mineral resource when measured at a 0.3 percent copper cut-off grade. It is estimated to contain 13.9 million tons of copper and 16.2 million ounces of gold, with potential for growth.
However, an open pit mining ban imposed by the Provincial Government of South Cotabato was seen as a barrier to the Tampakan project.
Investments for the commercial development of the Tampakan project were earlier pegged at $5.9 billion, including the provision of $900 million for a power station.
It is potentially the largest single foreign direct investment in the Philippines should the company proceed to commercial phase.
