By Rizal Obanil
A team spearheaded by the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) inspected the Taganito Mining Corporation (TMC) to pilot-test the national government’s program on minerals accounting.
(Photo courtesy of MICC)
The project’s main objective is to make sure all of the country’s mineral resources are in order and accounted for.
By so doing, the government can have a clearer picture of what state the mining industry and other related industries in the country are in, as well as what characteristics they possess.
The delegation, which also had representatives from the National Economic Development Authority (NEDA), the Department of Environment and Natural Resources and the Mines and Geosciences Bureau (MGB), chose to gather data from TMC, a subsidiary of Nickel Asia Corp., which has mining operations in Surigao del Norte.
They were given a detailed tour of the TMC mine site and the plant site of THPAL which is a minerals processing plant in Taganito.
In their website, the PSA recognizes that the mining industry “plays a very important role in the country’s economic development.”
Aside from providing employment to the residents in the area, mining per se contributes to the country’s foreign-exchange earning through exports.