DENR eyes more Minahang Bayan areas

MANILA, Philippines — The Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) plans to declare more Minahang Bayan areas to better monitor small-scale mining operations as part of the government’s thrust to better protect the environment and ramp up the mining sector.

The direction of government is to declare a number of Minahang Bayan areas to monitor and regulate small-scale mining activities, DENR Undersecretary for policy, planning and international affairs Jonas Leones said.

“If there is already a Minahang Bayan as dictated by the Small-Scale Mining Act, they are limited to that area so we can monitor it and their impact on the environment,” he said.

A Minahang Bayan or People’s Small-Scale Mining Area is an area given by the government to small-scale miners under actual exploration, development, exploitation or commercial production.

“Currently, we have 100 declared Minahang Bayan areas nationwide. We are processing a lot of applications in the pipeline,” Leones said.

Based on the latest mining industry statistics, there are 173 Minahang Bayan applications under process in the Mines and Geosciences Bureau (MGB).

Meanwhile, the data showed there are only 49 approved and registered Minahang Bayan areas.

Leones said the DENR is about to declare a Minahang Bayan areas in Camarines Sur. “If that is approved, we have a project there funded by UNIDO (United Nations Industrial Development Organization),” he said.

To promote responsible mining practices, the DENR is exploring how to reduce the use of the highly toxic mercury in artisanal and small-scale gold mining (ASGM).

“We have proposals on how they can improve their process in extracting gold in the mine sites of the Minahang Bayan,” Leones said.