Palace: Lifting of open-pit mining ban under study

The lifting of the four-year ban on open-pit mining is being studied by the Department of Environment and National Resources (DENR), Malacañang said Thursday.

Presidential spokesperson Harry Roque made the response when asked if President Rodrigo Duterte’s Executive Order 130 lifting the moratorium on new mining agreements would now mean allowing the resumption of open-pit mining.

“There is nothing in EO 130 which lifts the ban on open-pit mining. I have conferred with [Environment] Undersecretary Benny Antiporda and he says the matter is still being studied by the DENR (Department of Environment and Natural Resources),” Roque said.

“I understand from Undersecretary Antiporda that both the President and [Environment] Secretary [Roy] Cimatu agreed that the mining industries must reinvent mining in a manner that would ensure that it is sustainable and would cost the least damage to the environment,” Roque added.

Roque recalled that the President has mentioned opposition to open-pit mining in April 2018 and November 2017.

“The President said he does not like this because it is destroying the soil and the environment and there are no corrective measures immediately available,” Roque said.

Former Environment Secretary Regina Lopez issued a Department Order banning open-pit or the open-pit method of extraction of copper, gold, silver and/or complex ores back in April 2017.

At that time, Lopez said the ban will cover mines that are in development stages and not the ones currently in operation.

Lopez’s successor, Cimatu, upheld her decision.—LDF, GMA News