BAGUIO CITY, Philippines – Mining investments fell by half in the first semester of the year to $160 million from the $309.31 million registered in the same period in 2011 because of project delays and uncertainties in the investor community brought about by the creation of a new mining policy, according to the Mines and Geosciences Bureau (MGB).
In an interview on the sidelines of the culmination of the 59th annual National Mine Safety and Environment Conference held in the city Friday night, MGB director Leo Jasareno said a large portion of the investments realized during the first six months of the year – placed at around $30 million – were made by Philsaga Mining Corp., the operator of a gold mine in Agusan del Sur and Sagittarius Mines Inc. that is pursuing the Tampakan copper-gold project in South Cotabato.
The rest of the investments made for the period were “smaller ones” for expansion activities of other mining firms.
The new mining policy laid out in an Exucutive Order (EO) by President Aquino prohibits the acceptance of new mining application pending the identification of sites where mining activities would be restricted or prohibited. The granting of new mining permits, on the other hand, would be deferred until a law rationalizing the revenue-sharing scheme between the government and mining companies .
Total investments in the mining sector for the whole of 2011 reached $624.06 million. For the whole of 2012, on the other hand, investments of $2 billion are targeted.
Investments that were so far deferred for the year include the $200 million investment of Intex Resources for a nickel project in Mindoro Oriental, $649 million for a processing plant of Taganito HPAL Nickel Corporation, $39 million for the expansion of the Siana Gold project of Australian miner Red 5 Limited, $350 for the development of the King King gold project by Canadian miner St. Augustine Gold and Copper Ltd., $66 million for the Far Southeast project of Lepanto Consolidated Mining Co. and Gold Fields Limited of South Africa, and $200 million for the Silangan copper-gold project of Philex Mining Corporation.
Jasareno said that because of the slower inflow of investments for the first six months of the year, the investment target for the year would be revised.
“We will obviously revised out targets. We will consolidate it,” he said.