The executive director of the Chamber of Mines of the Philippines (COMP), Ronaldo Recidoro, on Wednesday said that the decision of the interagency Mining Industry Coordinating Council (MICC) was a “positive development for the mining industry,” adding that open-pit mining was accepted and practiced worldwide. “To ban such method altogether, even if it is environmentally safe and technically feasible, is unreasonable.”For Marcventures Holdings Inc. chair Isidro Alcantara, open-pit mining was legally justifiable and made business sense. “The Mining Act allows open-pit mining, and there are deposits that can only be economical if you use open pit,” he said. “There are no parameters to measure it and certainly, lifting the ban advances the practice of irresponsible mining by some mining companies,” Garganera said. ADVERTISEMENTHe also complained that unlike COMP, communities that would be affected by open-pit mining were legitimate stakeholders that were not consulted by the MICC.

Source: Philippine Daily Inquirer October 25, 2017 21:00 UTC