Miners map out action plan for summit

Local and foreign mining experts will dig deeper into the industry’s present woes as they prepare to map out a comprehensive action plan for a forthcoming mining summit next month.

Three professional groups of experts in the mining field, namely the Philippine Society of Mining Engineers, Geological Society of the Philippines and Society of Metallurgical Engineers of the Philippines, converge for a two-day workshop starting today at the Mapua Institute of Technology, the country’s premier school for mining-related studies. To discuss issues plaguing the sector and present these in the industry-wide forum.

Once a hallmark in the country’s economic development, especially during the 60s and the 70s, the mining industry has slowly lost its luster due to various problems: weakening demand, low mineral prices, high capital investments, as well as restrictive laws and regulations.

In the firts semester of this year, the combined mining and quarrying sector further lost ground in its economic contribution as its gross value added contracted by 1.2 percent during the period.

The organizers said the two-day industry workshop will gather inputs from government, academe and civil society to identify the factors contributing to the industry’s deterioration.

"Furthermore, it intends to formulate a position paper containing the recommendations that the collective body shall arrive at, prioritized according to degrees of urgency and ‘doability’," the groups said.

Despite the recent rise in the international prices of gold and silver as a result of the terrorist attacks in the US and the subsequent retaliation of American forces in Afghanistan, local mining companies are still in the pits, a good number of whom have either closed down or suspended operations.

Manila Mining Corp., one of the country’s leading copper and gold producers, has suspended its operations and retrenched about two thirds of its employees at its minesite in Placer, Surigao del Norte.

The company said the shutdown of its operations was due to the expiration of the Temporary Authority to Construct Operate Tailings Pond No. 7 issued by the Department of Environment and Natural Resources last January, as more than two million metric tons of waste slipped over the ore zone at the height of typhoon ‘Toyang’ in November 2000.