Chamber of mines picks Brimo as new chair, names other trustees

The Chamber of Mines of the Philippines (COMP) has elected mining veteran and ex-banker Gerard Brimo, president and chief executive officer of Nickel Asia Corp., as its new chair to lead the mining industry in navigating a challenging regulatory environment.

Following the retirement of Benjamin Philip Romualdez, who had been COMP president since 2004, the association did not name any new replacement but instead elected two working vice chairs to help Brimo.

Elected vice chair were Gilberto Teodoro Jr.—defense chief during the Macapagal-Arroyo regime and now chair of Sagittarius Mines, and Jose Leviste Jr., chair of Oceana Gold Philippines.

Lawyer Ronald Recidoro, former vice president for legal and policy, was elected executive director.

COMP elected a new set of board of trustees and officers through a referendum on Aug. 25. A document containing the election results was obtained by Inquirer.

Brimo is taking over the post previously held by Artemio Disini, president of Zeus Holdings. He is no stranger to this post as he had served a previous term as COMP chair (1995 to 2003) and president (1993 to 1995).

Brimo has been president and chief executive of Nickel Asia since August 2009. He was former chair and CEO of Philex Mining from 1994 to 2003. Prior to his career in mining, he worked for Citibank for eight years.

Apart from Brimo, Teodoro and Leviste, who were likewise elected to the 15-member board of trustees, named to the board were: Isidro C. Alcantara Jr. (president of Marcventures Holdings Inc.); Eulalio Austin Jr. (president and CEO of Philex Mining Corp.); Gloria Tan-Climaco (director of Filminera Resources Corp.); Isidro Consunji (chair and CEO of Berong Nickel Corp.); Joaquin Lagonera (president of Sagittarius Mines Inc.); Eugene Mateo (president of TVI Resource Development Phils. Inc.); Clarence Pimentel Jr. (president and CEO of CTP Construction and Mining Corp.); Adrian Ramos (president of Atlas Consolidated Mining and Development Corp.); Horacio Ramos (president or Pacific Nickel Philippines Inc.); Toru Higo (president of Sumitomo Metal Mining Phils. Holdings Corp.); Bryan Yap (president and chief operating officer of Lepanto Consolidated Mining Co.) and Martin Antonio Zamora (executive vice president of Rio Tuba Nickel Mining Corp.).

Other COMP officers elected by the members were Nelia Halcon (executive vice president), Gaspar Andres (corporate secretary) and Ramon Diokno (treasurer).

Brimo will also chair the executive committee and oversight committee of COMP. The legal committee will be chaired by Roderick Salazar III. Tan-Climaco and Austin will chair the finance and membership committees, respectively.