Philippines removes last hurdle for stalled Tampakan copper-gold project
MANILA - A provincial government in southern Philippines has reversed its 12-year-old policy banning open-pit mining, removing the final regulatory hurdle for the stalled Tampakan copper-gold project, the industry regulator said on Monday.
The Tampakan project in South Cotabato province is the Southeast Asian country's biggest stalled mining project with development cost previously estimated at $5.9-billion before it was hampered by the provincial ban imposed in 2010.
In 2016, President Rodrigo Duterte picked an anti-mining advocate as environment minister, who enforced a nationwide ban on open-pit mining the following year, adding to the challenges that dismayed investors and stalling other open-pit projects.
Duterte, who will end his six-year term next month, lifted the nationwide ban late last year, one of his two landmark policy reversals that sought to revitalise the mining industry. Read full story
"South Cotabato's local legislative body has voted to lift the provincial ban, clearing the only hurdle remaining in developing one of the largest copper-gold reserves in Southeast Asia," Wilfredo Moncano, director of the regulator, the Mines and Geosciences Bureau, told Reuters.
"All the major requirements to legally support the mining operation has been complied with," he added.
The Tampakan project, in which commodities giant Glencore previously had a controlling stake before it decided to quit amid regulatory uncertainties, has estimated resources of 15-million tonnes of copper and 17.6-million ounces of gold, according to developer Sagittarius Mines.
But Duterte's former environment minister who had opposed mining - the late Gina Lopez - had described Tampakan as "a 700-football field openpit mine on ... agricultural lands, affecting four provinces and six rivers".
Duterte's successor, Ferdinand Marcos Jr., said in an interview with local media during the campaign that he was open to allowing "sustainable" mining but was wary about the open-pit method of mineral extraction.
Comments
The
content
you are trying to access is only available to subscribers.
If you are already a subscriber, you can Login Here.
If you are not a subscriber, you can subscribe now, by selecting one of the below options.
For more information or assistance, please contact us at subscriptions@creamermedia.co.za.
Option 1 (equivalent of R125 a month):
Receive a weekly copy of Creamer Media's Engineering News & Mining Weekly magazine
(print copy for those in South Africa and e-magazine for those outside of South Africa)
Receive daily email newsletters
Access to full search results
Access archive of magazine back copies
Access to Projects in Progress
Access to ONE Research Report of your choice in PDF format
Option 2 (equivalent of R375 a month):
All benefits from Option 1
PLUS
Access to Creamer Media's Research Channel Africa for ALL Research Reports, in PDF format, on various industrial and mining sectors
including Electricity; Water; Energy Transition; Hydrogen; Roads, Rail and Ports; Coal; Gold; Platinum; Battery Metals; etc.
Already a subscriber?
Forgotten your password?
Receive weekly copy of Creamer Media's Engineering News & Mining Weekly magazine (print copy for those in South Africa and e-magazine for those outside of South Africa)
➕
Recieve daily email newsletters
➕
Access to full search results
➕
Access archive of magazine back copies
➕
Access to Projects in Progress
➕
Access to ONE Research Report of your choice in PDF format
RESEARCH CHANNEL AFRICA
R4500 (equivalent of R375 a month)
SUBSCRIBEAll benefits from Option 1
➕
Access to Creamer Media's Research Channel Africa for ALL Research Reports on various industrial and mining sectors, in PDF format, including on:
Electricity
➕
Water
➕
Energy Transition
➕
Hydrogen
➕
Roads, Rail and Ports
➕
Coal
➕
Gold
➕
Platinum
➕
Battery Metals
➕
etc.
Receive all benefits from Option 1 or Option 2 delivered to numerous people at your company
➕
Multiple User names and Passwords for simultaneous log-ins
➕
Intranet integration access to all in your organisation