The Philippines gives a good showing

SINGAPORE — It would seem there was no hope that the Philippines could come up with a good showing at the Asian Mining Congress. It just had too many problems. Surprisingly it was the problems and how the players have coped that made for a good show. The speakers were applauded and I heard participants in the mining congress saying they would look at the Philippines again.

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Leo Jasareno, director of the Mines and Geosciences Bureau, delivered a creditable speech without losing the government’s focus on responsible mining in the Philippines. Asia Mining Congress is the marketplace for minerals in Asia. This is a place to the buy and sell the basic materials for everything we need for modern living.

AMC has through the years become known as the premier gathering of players and stakeholders in mining in Asia. This week’s congress gathered more than 2,000 participants from exploration companies, investors, governments, banks and financial services as well as legal firms. Anyone and everyone interested in mining and investment in Asia needs to have a presence here. Among the speakers this year were Chong Lek Foong, associate director, SGX; Erik Bethel, managing partner, SLIA Investments; Graeme Robertson, chairman & CEO, Intrasia Capital and Greg Pan, president & CEO, China Hanking Holdings.

In his speech, Jasareno listed the Philippines’ mineral resources among them gold, copper, nickel, iron and chromite for metals and for non metals — gravel, limestone, marble and clay. Philippines’ wealth of mineral resources is well known. “It is the envy of the world.” The question was government policy, how it deals with investors as well as how it implements consistent policies in the industry.

Jasareno was able to convey the message that it welcomed investments so long as they come to the country for responsible mining. He cited figures on exploration permits and sharing agreements approved by the department of natural resources. At the moment the total existing approved mining tenements number some 717 that covers 942,710.97 hectares, a mere 2.3% of the country’s land area.

In answer to whether the department is back in business he said yes and we can expect significant announcements of renewed activity from the government as long as investors follow its tenets for responsible mining. At the moment there are 4 copper mines, 6 gold mines, 3 iron mines and 21 nickel mines. This list shows the significant interest in nickel of which one investor Intex is probably one of the finest and most abundant in the world. According to a US geological report nickel remains as the Philippines top performer.

Indeed, it is ranked as the highest nickel producer.

He then named several big projects among them the Sagittarius Mines in Tampakan which just recently received its ECC permit after complying with all the requirements of the department for its issuance. He acknowledged the difficulties coming from anti-mining groups that the government has to address. He named the lack of information, propaganda by advocacy groups, and politics among others that have hindered full development of the industry.

Government policy is how to adopt a middle ground that would address these concerns (mostly from local groups) while making sure it has rules-based policies for investments.

The result of finding that middle ground, he said was Executive Order No. 79. Although he did not quite say it, he hinted that the moratorium on the acceptance of mining applications and the granting of mining contracts and permits may soon be lifted as soon as the requirements and regulations are in place.

He quoted President Aquino who delivered a speech during the inauguration of a facility of a copper smelter.

“At the end of the day, we assure you the rules will be clear. Our administration will not drop our investors in the middle of a maze of moving walls. Let me assure you that through the level playing field we are instituting, success will come to anyone who pursues it the hard tried and tested way — with patience, integrity, hard work and innovation.”

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That went down well with the audience that stayed on to hear directly from the mining investors already in the Philippines, primarily the multibillion gold-copper Sagittarius Mining Inc. which recently received its ECC.

Indeed the gloomy picture last year has changed with the new developments. But as SMI’s Roy Antonio who spoke in behalf of SMI general manager, Mark Williams made clear, the group will comply with the department’s requirements.

“As we continue to navigate through the approvals process for a project of this scale, we are already working with our stakeholders to get this balance right.”

He then gave an overview of the Tampakan Project, how it implements responsible mining and provided an update on the status of the project. Unlike other speeches that gave merely a technical background on their mining projects, SMI went through the non-technical aspects of their work in Tampakan especially its social and economic work for the communities that included a resettlement program. Tampakan Project, located in southern Mindanao, involves one of the world’s largest undeveloped copper-gold deposits. The proposed mining operation covers an area of approximately 10,000 hectares and is estimated to produce an average of 375,000 tonnes per annum of copper and 360,000 ounces per annum of gold in concentrate during a 17-year operating life.

“However, the Tampakan Project is more than just a mining project. It is a partnership between SMI, the Philippine Government and our host communities,” Antonio added.

We have always recognized that our long-term success depends on our responsible stewardship of the natural resources we propose to mine, which will, in turn, generate economic and social benefits for our host communities.”

The other speakers on mining in the Philippines were Jon Steen Petersen, CEO and CO of Intex Resources and Clifford James, president and CEO of TVI Pacific. Intex is a Norwegian firm whose largest asset is the world-class $2.6B nickel project in Mindoro. Steen emphasized in his presentation that all will be done to comply with the Philippine policy of responsible mining and more.

“Indeed, Mindoro Nickel is set through innovative design to set a new standard of the industry, including the lowest carbon footprint of any nickel project in the world.”