DENR cancels 5 more mineral production deals

Five more mineral production sharing agreements (MPSA) were canceled over the past four weeks for violating the government’s mining policies, according to the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR).

This follows the cancellation last June of three MPSAs for similarly violating regulations.

In July, the DENR revoked the MPSAs of Vulcan Materials Corp. covering 332 hectares in Batangas City and Ibalong Resources and Development Corp. (607 hectares in Cebu), as well as those made with Daprosa C. Perez (271 hectares in Leyte) and Maria Cruz R. del Gallego (332 hectares in Camarines Sur).

Last week, the DENR also canceled the MPSA with Glicerio C. Pescador Jr., covering 250 hectares in Zamboanga del Sur.

According to the DENR’s mining tenements management division, the move was due to the grantees’ failure to renew the exploration period for more than eight years, failure to pay the occupation fees, and failure to comply with all the reportorial requirements.

In June, the canceled MPSAs were those of Philippine Sunrise Marble Inc., Panapino Mining Inc. and GML Corp.

Also last week, the Mines and Geosciences Bureau (MGB) said the value of metallic minerals produced in the Philippines  rose 7.2 percent year-on-year to about P23.7 billion in the first quarter despite a prevailing slump in prices.

MGB director Leo L. Jasareno said in a report that such output growth in the quarter ended March was driven by direct shipments of nickel ore.

From January to March, mines shipped out P10.07 billion worth of nickel ore and mixed nickel and cobalt sulfide, representing more than two-fifths (42 percent) of total output.

The combined value of these minerals jumped 29 percent year-on-year from P7.83 billion in the first quarter of 2014.

In the first quarter of 2015, the top exporters of nickel ore were the Rio Tuba nickel project in Palawan (693,585 dmt), Claver nickel project of Taganito Mining Corp. in Surigao del Norte (515,033 dmt), Tubay nickel-cobalt project of SR Metals Inc. in Agusan del Norte (434,158 dmt);  and Toronto-Pulot nickel projects of Citinickel Mines and Development Corp. in Palawan (413,147 dmt).

Also, gold output, which accounted for 36 percent of total first-quarter production, went up in value by 1 percent to P8.57 billion.

However, gold volume was up by 11 percent to 5,020 kilograms.