Mining group seeks ‘real’ dialog on issues

MANILA, Philippines—Mining investments in the Philippines for the period 2011 to 2016 could reach $20 billion, of which some $12.6 billion will flow into Mindanao, the Chamber of Mines of the Philippines (COMP) said in a statement Thursday.

At the same time, COMP called on various sectors to allow legitimate mining industry members to participate in mining fora in order to have a “real” multi-stakeholder dialog and address issues concerning the industry.

COMP said that Mindanao has the biggest resources and reserves inventory in the country of copper at five billion tons, gold at 3.4 billion tons, aluminum at 292 million tons and iron at 411 million tons.

COMP vice president for communications Rocky G. Dimaculangan noted that COMP member-companies, particularly those operating in Mindanao, wanted to tap the mining potential in the area with the “responsible mining” principles that the group continually advocated.

“Mining projects are great vehicles for progress,” Dimaculangan said. “To achieve that, we are reaching out to all the mining industry stakeholders and concerned sectors for more open and closer communication channels to discuss how we can all help [the] government in moving toward development that is grounded on social equity and environmental protection.”

COMP earlier said that despite repeated requests from the industry, representatives of legitimate mining industry operators were excluded from the ongoing 2012 International Conference on Mining in Mindanao hosted by the Ateneo de Davao University (AdDU) and the Catholic Educational Association of the Philippines. The Ateneo School of Government (ASoG) organized a similar mining conference in November 2011 wherein COMP members were also not invited to take part, COMP said.

COMP said it requested for participation through a letter addressed to AdDU president Fr. Joel E. Tabora, but the industry group did not receive a response.

COMP noted the participation of Catherine Coumans, Robert Goodland and Clive Wicks as guest speakers in the conference, who were all non-Filipinos known for their “staunch opposition” to mining in the Philippines “without due diligence and verification with firms these speakers have accused of wrongdoings.”