Regional Director of the Mines and Geo sciences Bureau, DENR Region 6 Leo Van V. Juguan together with together with Eng. Ricardo Nacional, OIC, Mine Management Division, MGB Region 5 attended the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Senior Officials Meeting on Minerals (ASOMM) Working Group Meeting in Bandar Seri Begawan, Negara Brunei Darussalam on 26-27 September, 2012
A total of thirty-five (35) delegates coming from the ASEAN Member States of Brunei Darussalam, Cambodia, Indonesia, Lao PDR, Malaysia, Myanmar, Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Viet Nam attended the 9th ASOMM WG Meeting held at the Songket Hall, Level 4 of the Rizqun International Hotel, BS Begawan, Negara Brunei Darussalam.
The 9th Working Group of ASOMM discussed the outcome of ideas and initiatives for natural resources and minerals implemented by member countries last year.
“ASSOM is a prorgramme of action in the minerals sector which has been formulated to promote trade and investment in industrial minerals, in support of the industrialization of ASEAN member countries and meeting the demand of the mineral-intensive manufacturing and construction sector.” (The Brunei Times, September 27, 2012.)
The different working groups of ASSOM which are Working Group on Sustainable Mineral Development (WGSMD), Working Group on Trade and Investment in Minerals (WGTIM), Working Group on Mineral Information and Database (WGMID), and Working Group on Capacity Building in Minerals (WGCBM).held meetings during the 2-day conference.
The Working Group on Sustainable Mineral Development unanimously elected Mr. Leo Van V. Juguan, Regional Director, Mines and Geosciences Regional Office No. 6, Department of Environment and Natural Resources as Chairperson and Mr. Yogeindran Thiayagarajah, Divisional Director, Metals and Minerals and Industrial Goods Division Trade Promotion Group, International Enterprise Singapore as Vice-Chairperson.
RD Juguan, as reported in The Brunei Times, chaired the meeting of the Working Group on Sustainable Mineral Development. He said that they discussed plans in which ASEAN countries is coming up with programmes on how their can be used effectively.
“Minerals are finite resources,” RD Juguan was quoted in the paper The Brunei Times. “It is not renewable, so studies have been proposed and undertaken to fully use what we have,” he said. “This also includes going into efficient recovery of even low grade minerals,” RD Juguan was quoted in The Brunei Times. (LAA, MGB-6)