The fear that large tracts of land will be mined is one of the issues against mining that needs to be clarified.
It is a common misconception that when government grants as much as much as 81,000 hectares say for Financial technical Assistance Agreement (FTAA) for mineral exploration, the whole area will be mined.
Area relinquishment is mandated in the Mining Act of 1995 and its revised implementing rules and regulations. It is the progressive reduction of the contract area wherein the mining contractor returns to the Government portions of the contract that, based on its exploration activities, has low or no mineral potential.
At least 20% of the permit area during the first two (2) years of exploration and at least 10% of the remaining permit area shall be relinquished by the contractor to the government annually.
The mining area after final relinquishment shall not be more than five thousand (5,000) hectares for metallic minerals and two thousand (2,000) hectares for non-metallic minerals.
Using the 81,000 hectares granted to an FTAA Contractor as an example, the contractor shall relinquish at least 25% of the original contract area after the second year of exploration period. The contractor shall retain only a maximum of 5,000 hectares or less per project area (or just 6.17% of the original contract area).
The Mineral Production Sharing Agreement (MPSA) of Philex Gold Philippines, Inc. in Sipalay City, Negros Occidental for example, covers 2,268 hectares but its mine complex only occupies not more than 600 hectares that include the different facilities of the mine, such as mill complex, administration buildings, hospitals tailings ponds, silt ponds, warehouse, and other facilities.
Notably, with the revitalization of the minerals industry back in 2004 through the issuance of Executive Order 270 and 270-A, there is an increase in mining applications all over the country.
By its nature, mining really needs large tracts of land for exploration. Those who go into the high-cost, high-risk business of mining have to look for minerals and make sure that mining them is economically viable.
Minerals are considered as the rarest and most elusive among our natural resources. Traditional land use procedures cannot be applied in identifying mineral-bearing lands. The common thinking that rapid geological survey will suffice is flawed. Identification of mineral-bearing lands requires both qualitative and quantitative studies and is dependent on existing technology and economics.”
Mineral exploration, is neither a land use nor a development activity but rather the scientific, non-destructive assessment of the mineral potential of the land that can possibly lead to a decision to mine.
Exploration, however, does not always lead to mining. The odds of finding a mineral deposit is conservatively placed at 1:500 that is, for every 500 exploration projects, only one may be developed into a mine. Moreover, the decision to mine may come only after another 5 to 10 years, once all regulatory requirements and an exhaustive study of the mineral deposit had been undertaken.
True in Region 6, there have been exploration projects but at present, there are no large scale mining operations in the region.
The two mines in Sipalay City and Hinobaan Negros Occidental, Maricalum Mining Corporation (MMC) and Philex Gold Philippines, Inc. (PGPI) have closed down.
PGPI started its commercial production for gold in January 1996. It suspended operations on July 2, 2002 due to the depletion of ore reserves and low price of
Gold at that time. It started exploring for more reserves in 2007.
MMC started operations in 1957 with copper as its product and silver as by-product. It suspended operations on July 1, 2001 due to labor disputes.