Gov’t-led mineral exploration to get P60M budget next year —DENR exec

The planned government-initiated mineral exploration in 2024 will be implemented through a more focused approach as it gets a measly budget of P60 million, a top official of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) said Tuesday.

On the sidelines of the Mining Philippines 2023 International Conference and Exhibition organized by the Chamber of Mines of the Philippines (COMP), DENR Undersecretary for Environment and Integrated Science Carlos Primo David told reporters that the government-led exploration will target critical minerals needed to transition to renewable energy.

“The government has a budget of P60 million for mineral exploration... What we want to do is to focus on certain areas,” David said.

The DENR official said that the budget, which will be divided equally among the 16 regions of the country, will not be enough, thus the need to employ a more focused approach, especially in finding critical mineral resources, such as nickel and chromium, amid the increasing demand for electric vehicle batteries.

“We wanted to focus on that small budget and revive exploration by the government.  Hopefully, when we do the initial exploration, there is enough information for the private sector to get interested and continue the exploration,” David said.

The DENR official said the objective of the planned government-led exploration is to be able to identify minerals and declare more mineralized areas.

“We wanted to help the industry with this critical step. Before you develop, mining starts with exploration. It should be government-initiated,” he said.

He said the agency, through the Mines and Geosciences Bureau (MGB), will follow up on previously explored areas that were left or discontinued.

The DENR official cited one potentially gold-rich area, in a place not known to be a gold district, discovered through government-led exploration before. 

“We want to revive those,” said David, a licensed geologist and an expert in environmental science.

He added that a Department Administrative Order or Memorandum Circular would be needed to declare a mineral area following the government-led exploration, adding that “any mining development in any mineral area... [there] goes additional royalty for government, and jobs, too.”

Late in August, DENR Secretary Maria Antonia Yulo-Loyzaga announced that the DENR will be embarking on a government-led mineral exploration next year. 

The DENR undersecretary, who represented Loyzaga during the opening ceremony of the mining conference, said the DENR is supporting the mining industry in terms of governance and regulation, citing the potential of the country’s minerals development sector to be an important player in the global renewable energy transition market. —KG, GMA Integrated News