Mining firms warned The Mines and Geosciences Bureau (MGB) will...

Mining firms warned


The Mines and Geosciences Bureau (MGB) will cancel mineral exploration permits of 84 nonper­forming mining companies if they fail to respond within 15 days, an official said.

Leo Jasareno, chief of MGB’s mining tenements divisions, said the MGB has notified the companies on February 1, 2005.

But Eng. Benjamin de Vera, the chief of the MGB’s information and publication divisions, said nonperforming firms could use the unstable implementation of the mining law in the past as a justification for their reluctance to work on the ground and comply with the guidelines.

“These companies might tell the government that they could not fully invest or reluctant to invest because the legality of the mining law in Philippines was being questioned. And it was only then that the Court came with a final judgment,” de Vera said.

But de Vera warned that the government must give a balanced judgment in the cancellation of exploration permits because it might send a wrong signal to them and to other possible investors.

Based on the MGB’s records, the grounds for the cancellation of permits are failure to renew exploration period, non-submission of reportorial requirements, absence of ground performance, and nonpayment of occupation fees.

MGB said that companies that applied for a permit must renew their contracts after two years.
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there could be a lot to pick from when the time comes.please do your own research.