The Chamber of Mines of the Philippines formally invited President Rodrigo Duterte to visit one of the rehabilitated mines in the country in the wake of his recent pronouncements about open-pit mines.
“We like to invite the President to come and see some of the older mines that have been rehabilitated. We already know that he has flown to some of the newer mines like in Surigao that has not been rehabilitated yet,” said COMP Chairman Gerard Brimo, who also serves as the president of Nickel Asia Corp., on the sidelines of the ongoing Mining Philippines 2017 International Conference and Exhibition on Wednesday.
“There are very good examples in the country that are surface mines, part of which have already been rehabilitated. We will be delighted to have the President visit some of those mines,” he added.
Brimo said the reality of the situation is that for deposits that are near the surface, “there’s only one way to mine, and that’s from the surface and that’s open pit mine.”
“The other reality is that it can be rehabilitated. There are technical ways. In nickel for example, we can do progressive rehabilitation. In Rio Tuba for example, in areas we’re rehabilitating, the vegetation is better than the original area,” he noted. (PNA)
