Business NEWS

Despite EO 130

The Office of the President (OP) was urged to cancel the ‘stay order’ issued on mining companies with pending suspension and closure orders. This as such move will not do anything for the Philippine economy.

The Philippine government has allowed the mining companies that were suspended and ordered closed by former Environment Secretary and late Regina Paz Lopez in 2017 to continue operating.

Thanks to higher ore export prices, listed mining firm Nickel Asia Corporation has booked a surge in its income last year despite the COVID-19 lockdown restrictions.

Mining operations within the Marikina River Basin should not be blamed for the massive flooding that engulfed some parts of Marikina and Rizal province during the onslaught of Typhoon Ulysses, the deadliest and most destructive typhoon to hit the country in 2020.

The Philippines’ nickel output declined in 2020 amid the COVID-19 pandemic, but thanks to higher global prices, its full-year export value went up to P25 billion.

Despite the COVID-19 pandemic, the Philippine government is still determined to award the country’s best mining companies.

The Philippines’ first large-scale offshore mining operation is set to start in January next year, involving the extraction of thousands of metric tons of magnetite iron reserves in the seabed off Cagayan.

With higher exports and few layoffs, the country’s mining sector has remained largely unaffected by the COVID-19 pandemic, a mining official said.

A week since Typhoon Ulysses hit the country, the Mines and Geosciences Bureau (MGB) has allowed miners to re-align their funds for their respective Social Development and Management Programs (SDMP) to bankroll their typhoon relief efforts.