The Chamber of Mines urged the government to put small-scale miners under the same stringent regulations as the bigger companies as part of a policy reform that the private sector has been advocating.
“This [small-scale mining] is one of the roadblocks that the industry has indentified as affecting the flow of investments in the country,” Chamber of Mines president Benjamin Philip Romualdez said in an executive luncheon of the group at the Shangri-La Hotel in Makati City.
“Almost all legitimate mining companies have, at least once, dealt with the problem of smal-scale miners sprouting in there respective areas of operations,” he said.
Romualdez said small-scale miners were often times the violators of policies, adding this is “a dilemma that puts a stigma on the entire Philippine mining sector. They give the industry a bad name.”
Despite the strict regulations under the revised mining law, small- scale miners have circumvented government policies, adversely affecting large-scale investments in the sector.
The chamber said the government failed to monitor and regulate small-scale mining players and collect taxes from them.
Another group, the Philippine Mine Safety and Environment Association, has also called for a review of the small-scale mining act to professionalize the industry and provide better opportunities.
Small-scale miners merely apply for a permit from local government units and do not need the approval of the Bureau of Mines, resulting in the lack of professional and technical information vital to mine operations.
http://www.manilastandardtoday.com/insideBusiness.htm?f=2011/october/22/business2.isx&d=2011/october/22
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