DENR fast tracking mining permits

CEBU, Philippines - The Department of Environment and Natural Resources has fast tracked the approval process for mineral exploration permits in line with the government’s thrust to revitalize the country’s mining industry.

DENR Secretary Horacio C. Ramos recently approved Memorandum Order No. 2010-04 entitled “Reforms in the Department Mining Tenement System,” which mandates that in the issuance of a new Exploration Permit, application that complied with all pertinent requirements will be approved within 10 weeks from the date of acceptance.

An application for the first or second renewal of an Exploration Permit shall be granted within 15 days from the date of payment of the pertinent renewal fee and other requirements.

Previously, the application for exploration permit takes two years before it is completely evaluated. The delay also depends on how quick the applicants are able to comply with the requirements.

As of March 15 this year, a total of 77 Exploration Permit applications are under process, of which 26 are under final evaluation by the Mines and Geosciences Bureau (MGB-7). Some 14 applications were already sent to DENR-MGB Central Office for further evaluation and approval.

“We are advancing mining tenement reforms consistent to the revitalization efforts and initiatives of the government to gain greater mining investors’ confidence and to allay the fears that securing mining permits is difficult to get. Mining and minerals industry have been the primary tools in improving the quality of life of the people through the creation and intensification of wealth,” MGB-7 director Loreto Alburo said.

Alburo said the government is supporting prospective mining exploration projects as long as the environment is not sacrificed.

“These mining exploration projects will pursue a sound and systematic exploration program to characterize and quantify the resource available in the area, maintain a cost-effective operation to make certain the viability and sustainability of the project, and ensure that an environmentally friendly operation could be put in place that will set a model for similar operations in the area,” he said.

Contrary to common belief that the grant of large tracts of land to mining contractors will result in massive land degradation, Alburo said mineral exploration is neither a land use nor a development activity.

He said mineral exploration is rather a non-destructive assessment of mineral potential of land. – Jessica Ann R. Pareja/LPM (THE FREEMAN)