The Philippine government wants to close thousands of small-scale mines blamed for environmental devastation. President Benigno Aquino announced mining reforms last month that his government said would better regulate a chaotic industry, improve environmental standards and deliver a bigger share of revenues to state coffers.
The changes will amend the government’s small-scale mining provisions which were originally intended to give poor, mainly rural people a chance to earn a little money, according to the head of the government’s Mines and Geosciences Bureau, Leo Jasareno. But it has been widely exploited and most of the small-scale miners today violate the conditions for small-scale mining by using explosives and poisonous chemicals such as mercury, Jasareno said.
He estimated that there may be as many as 300,000 such small-scale miners across the country, creating a major environmental problem. With few safety regulations, workplace deaths also occur frequently.
“The executive order [Aquino’s mining reforms] will address all the problems in small-scale mining. Environmental problems will be addressed as well as safety,” Jasareno told AFP in Manila.
Some of the key reforms will be to restrict small-scale operations to “community mines”, so that they can be more closely supervised, while others deemed to be dangerous or bad for the environment will be closed.
The changes will amend the government’s small-scale mining provisions which were originally intended to give poor, mainly rural people a chance to earn a little money, according to the head of the government’s Mines and Geosciences Bureau, Leo Jasareno. But it has been widely exploited and most of the small-scale miners today violate the conditions for small-scale mining by using explosives and poisonous chemicals such as mercury, Jasareno said.
He estimated that there may be as many as 300,000 such small-scale miners across the country, creating a major environmental problem. With few safety regulations, workplace deaths also occur frequently.
“The executive order [Aquino’s mining reforms] will address all the problems in small-scale mining. Environmental problems will be addressed as well as safety,” Jasareno told AFP in Manila.
Some of the key reforms will be to restrict small-scale operations to “community mines”, so that they can be more closely supervised, while others deemed to be dangerous or bad for the environment will be closed.