pending mining policy, page-42

Still on track for 2016
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"Williams said the company remains positive that despite the setbacks that it suffered at the local government and national government levels, the project will still proceed.

He said when all the necessary approvals have been secured, it will take the company about three-and-a-half years to finish the construction phase and proceed to the mineral production.

SMI, he said, has spent about $360 of the $5.9-billion estimated total project cost million so far.

David Pearce, executive director of Australia’s Center for International Economics, said at a forum at the University of Asia and the Pacific on Wednesday that the Tampakan project should be allowed to continue due to its social and economic impacts.

For instance, Pearce said the project is expected to contribute 1 percent to the national GDP and an average of 10 percent to Mindanao’s GDP.

“I don’t know any other project in the world that can generate such impact,” he said
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