Responsible Mining

I.Introduction Philippines’ minerals are the country’s assets, many mining applications and projects in the Philippines are also in small islands with fragile ecosystems that are also highly vulnerable to natural and climate hazards. The Philippines is one of the richest mining deposits globally. According to estimates, the Philippines have the fifth largest reserve of minerals in the world. It has the world’s 3rd largest gold, 4th largest copper, and 5th largest nickel reserves. The Intellasia News Online (http://www.intellasia.net) reported on 08 August 2011 that the Philippines' Mines and Geosciences Bureau (MGB) has announced that about 5 million hectares of potentially mineralized areas across the archipelago are now open to local and foreign investors. Experts said that the Philippines can receive fifty four trillion if all the minerals will be extracted. The money that our government will receive will surely pay the debt of our country. But still our government is not allowing everyone to extract everything in the ground just to have a big amount of money. Responsible mining may need to be context-specific and give consideration for the diversity of ecosystems among Philippine islands. Responsible mining in the Philippines should be followed by everyone specially mining companies. Greater understanding for the science that leads to more responsible mining will be needed by practitioners and the communities, where mining is proposed, to guarantee the security of the community, environmental sustainability and the culture of the society. Responsible mining, according to the Chamber of Mines, can help solve poverty “if mining stakeholders put themselves fully to the task”. Binay’s message, “the Chamber of Mines said the best minds and knowledge of the industry would be crucial in helping policy makers and ordinary citizens obtain the truth of mining”. Investment opportunities abound the exploration of minerals. Existing mining laws