The Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) was urged to reject the P12-billion seabed quarrying project in Manila Bay being proposed by a company called Silverquest Mining Resources Inc. (SMRI). The call was made by the national fishers’ group Pambansang Lakas ng Kilusang...
ERC hints ‘pricing play’ The country’s giant power firms have been tagged as the culprits in last week’s rotational brownouts with “forced outages’ of their power plants going beyond the time allowance prescribed by the Energy Regulatory Commission (ERC). In a Congressional hearing on...
The House of Representatives has approved on third and final reading a bill requiring environmental insurance coverage for environmentally-critical projects (ECP) in order to protect the country’s ecology and natural resources. With 247 voting in the affirmative and zero in the negative, the...
Marcventures Mining and Development Corporation (MMDC), a subsidiary of listed nickel miner Marcventures Holdings Inc. (MHI), is targeting to ship 2.035 million wet metric tons (WMT) of nickel ore this year, higher than the 1.732 million WMT it shipped in 2020. In a statement, MMDC said that for...
The Offshore Mining Chamber of the Philippines (OMCP) has batted for restricted coastal mining after they expressed their support to the proposed ban on sand mining in some coastal towns in the Ilocos region. In a statement, OMCP, composed of operational and non-operational offshore mining firms in...
A total of 17 state universities and colleges (SUCs) and research and development institutes (RDIs) will be involved in the Department of Science and Technology- Philippine Council for Agriculture, Aquatic and Natural Resources Research and Development’s (DOST-PCAARRD) implementation of its...
International organizations Global Environment Facility (GEF) and the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP) are now helping the Philippine government to stop the use of highly toxic mercury in mining in compliance with its commitment under the Minamata Convention. According to a statement, the...
The Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) has moved to establish national policies geared toward the elimination of mercury’s use in artisanal and small-scale gold mining (ASGM). HAZARDOUS TRADE--In small-scale gold mining, mercury is vaporized in order to extract gold. This...
The Mining Industry Coordinating Council (MICC), co-chaired by Environment Secretary Roy Cimatu and Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez III, will soon conduct a series of forums with mining companies and the general public about the results of the mining reviews it conducted over the last few years....
Executive Order No. 13 0 The government has formally repealed the ban on open-pit mining method in the country, at least based on draft implementing rules and regulations (IRR) of Executive Order (EO) 130. Based on the draft of the three-page IRR, the government repealed, amended, and...
Although the majority of the mineral commodities registered a decline in output, the value of the Philippines’ total mineral production during the first three months of 2021 managed to rise by 14.11 percent to P28.91 billion from P25.34 billion during the same period last year. This was...
DMCI Holdings Inc., the diversified conglomerate controlled by the Consunjis, expects a strong recovery this year due although a return to its pre-pandemic performance is not seen until 2023. “We believe that our Company can stage a recovery this year on the back of higher construction...
