The Philippines has lifted a ban on strip mining for copper, gold, silver and composite ores, the government's second signature policy move this year to try to revive the industry, Vilfredo Moncano, director general of the Department of Mines and Earth Sciences, said on Tuesday.
Moncano said Philippine Environment and Natural resources Secretary Roy Tsmatto had signed an executive order lifting the ban on strip mining.
The Philippine government imposed the ban in 2017 when Regina Lopez, then secretary of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources, which oversees mining, campaigned aggressively against the industry, accusing it of causing widespread environmental damage. His ban has angered mining companies, which argue that the country's vast copper and gold deposits can be mined only through open-pit mining.
After years of restrictions, critics blamed the ban for bringing the industry to a standstill.
Moncano says strip mining is still the accepted method of mining globally.
The Philippine government is now hoping to attract investment for those stalled projects, as well as new mining projects, to stimulate the stricken economy. In April, Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte lifted a moratorium on new mining deals imposed in 2012.
The government says export earnings from the Country's mineral extraction industry could increase by as much as $2 billion a year over the next five to six years as new mining projects begin.
The Philippines is China's biggest supplier of nickel ore and has large copper and gold reserves.
More than a third of the country's 30 million hectares are identified as having "high mineral potential," but less than 5 percent of the reserves have been tapped so far, according to the Bureau of Mines.
