By Lilybeth G. Ison
MANILA, Sept. 15 (PNA) — A total of USD 693 million or 76 percent short of the original projection of USD 3 billion mining investments in the Philippines was recorded in 2014.
“We need to help overcome this declining trend,” said Benjamin Philip Romualdez, Chamber of Mines of the Philippines (COMP) president, in his opening speech Tuesday at the Mining Philippines 2015 Conference & Exhibition held at Solaire Resort and Casino Hotel in Pasay City.
“The Philippines is lagging behind its ASEAN neighbors in terms of foreign direct investments. Had the big-ticket (mining) projects in the pipeline pushed through, we would have obtained almost USD 20 billion in investments, and thousands of people would have been employed, with more businesses established to meet the needs of these new mines,” Romualdez added.
The huge decline in mining investments is attributed to the issuance of Executive Order No. 79, which forbids the signing of new mineral agreements until a new mining revenue-sharing scheme has been legislated.
Romualdez said “the last five years have not been encouraging for the country’s mining industry.”
“Yes, we continued with our respective company activities but beyond that, there were no significant industry news except for the operation of Nickel Asia’s second HPAL (high pressure acid leach) project,” he noted.
While mining permit issuances are on hold, the industry said the government is mulling to increase mining taxes by as much as 71 percent, the highest among ASEAN countries.
“On the global scene, with Europe still struggling to recover from the debt crisis and China’s economic slowdown affecting demand for commodities, the prices of copper, gold and nickel have been steadily going down in the last two years. There are forecasts that prices will rise in 2019 but we only hope this will come soonest,” said Romualdez.
“The election of new leaders next year should give us some optimism,” he added. “We hope to have a more pragmatic vision and plan for the mining industry and a doable action plan.”
Mining Philippines 2015, the biggest international mining conference in the country undertaken by the Chamber of Mines of the Philippines (COMP), is an annual international conference where critical industry issues are undertaken by the mining industry.
The three-day conference (Sept. 15-17) features international and local experts who will speak on various industry aspects.
Highlighting the conference is a discussion on “What is Mining to Philippine Development? Can the Philippines become an Asia Factory?”, where the industry vision of helping economic transformation by way of industrialization will be closely examined.
Sen. Ferdinand Marcos Jr., Sen. Edgardo Angara Jr., Rep. Jose L. Atienza Jr. and representatives from local government units will give their reactions to the discussion and provide insights on how the country’s mineral wealth can be efficiently managed and maximized to generate returns for future generations.
COMP Chair Artemio Disini will formally close the conference and announce the date for Mining Philippines 2016. (PNA)