Philippines minister says wants to ban new mines, suspends permit for nickel producer
Date: 14-Oct-16
Country: PHILLIPPINES
Author: Enrico dela Cruz
Philippines
Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) Secretary Regina Lopez
answers a question during a news conference at the department's
headquarters in Quezon city, metro Manila, Philippines August 11,
2016.
Photo: Romeo Ranoco
The Philippines' environment minister said she wanted to ban new mines and would suspend the environmental permit of a nickel mine that is sandwiched between two protected areas.
"I want to put a moratorium on any new mine," Regina Lopez told a media briefing on Friday.
"I don't want to fight the mining companies, I can work with them as long as they don't silt the river, destroy the rice fields."
Lopez also suspended a nickel mine in southern Davao Oriental province run by private-owned Austral-Asia Link Mining Corp.
Lopez told Reuters on Monday that the environmental permit would be canceled because it sits between Mount Hamiguitan, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and Pujada Bay, a marine protected area.
(Writing by Manolo Serapio Jr.; Editing by Joseph Radford)
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