The Duterte administration is pushing for the revival of the country’s mining industry to help counter the economic devastation wrought by the coronavirus pandemic.
From the issuance of Executive Order No. 130, which lifted a nine-year mining ban and, possibly, the ban on open-pit mining, the government is now taking steps to monetize idle state mining assets, most likely through their privatization.
In a phone interview, Wilfredo Moncano, chief of the Mines and Geosciences Bureau (MGB), said their agency and the Department of Finance (DOF) were now ironing out decades-long legal impediments involving two mining assets—North Davao Mining Corp.’s in Davao del Norte and that of Pac…
Keep on reading: Gov’t eyes sale of idle mining assets