Fact-finding mission of large mines on

A pro-business lobby group will conduct a series of fact finding missions to study the environmental and social development commitments of large-scale mining operations.

In a statement, the Philippine Business for Environmental Stewardship (Pbest) said it recently visited the biggest mining operations in the country as part of ongoing studies to develop a mining scorecard.

According to Pbest secretary general Lysander Castillo, the goal is to evaluate the compliance of legitimate mining companies to environmental regulations and their performance in terms of delivering on social development and rehabilitation commitments.

PBest’s advocacy partners from the Asian Institute of Management-Ramon V. del Rosario, Sr. Center for Corporate Social Responsibility (AIM-RVR CCSR), Foundation for Economic Freedom and the Polytechnic University of the Philippines Center for Environmental Studies (PUP-CES) joined the fact-finding mission that went to the Rio Tuba Nickel Mining Corp. and the nickel processing plant of Coral Bay Nickel Corp. in Palawan. Both are subsidiaries of Nickel Asia Corp.

The group toured mining facilities and interviewed officers and personnel on the nickel mining and processing operations, corporate social responsibility projects and safety and environmental protection practices.

Necylene Gacilo of AIM-RVR CCSR said the economic potential of mining had not been maximized due to the environmental damage caused by unacceptable mining practices.

According to officials of both Rio Tuba and Coral Bay, they have found ways to balance the benefits among the different stakeholders by planning operation and analyzing their environmental footprints. Through this, they are able to implement environmental solutions and social innovations in high risk areas.

“From an economic point of view, my argument has always been for prudent conservation rather than preservation at all costs, because that would imply no economic activity at all, and we all know that the mining industry is an important source of revenue for the Philippine government,” FEF program officer Ranna Maih Pintor said. “The strongest impression I got from the trip was the scale of the mine rehabilitation project. Responsible mining is possible when there is a commitment from the management to really invest in it—technology, people and processes.”

For her part, PUP-CES representative Chantal Sadaba said she saw large-scale mining as an activity that supports the concept of “environmental mining.”

Pbest’s Castillo said its partners were scheduled to visit Padcal Mine in Benguet and Carmen Copper mine in Toledo City, Cebu to understand the complex issues of mining and to validate policy reforms that they will actively push to government leaders.

“The mining scorecard we are developing will hopefully become the benchmark for responsible environmental stewardship that promotes the proper management of the country’s mineral resources considered to be among the richest in the world,” he said.

“We encourage large-scale mines to participate in this mission that we hope will enlighten the public and the government to adopt a developmental attitude when it comes to our natural resources and unleash economic benefits that have remained a potential for too long,” Castillo said.

Pbest lead convenor Dindo Manhit said that since they started their advocacy sorties, they have been expanding their network of partners who believe that the private sector should play a leading role in addressing environmental issues native to their respective industries.

“We shall continue to expand our multi-sectoral approach in alliance building which we envision to be a credible, intelligent and formidable voice to help our government leaders in policy reforms that will integrate strict compliance to environmental regulations without stifling economic development,” he said.