September 12, 2025 | 12:00am
MANILA, Philippines — The federal government is getting ready to guage 14 potential mineral reservations by 2026, a transfer seen to unlock extra worth within the nation’s P170.1-billion mining trade.
The Division of Surroundings and Pure Assets (DENR) mentioned it plans to evaluate the brand new mineral reservation areas and endorse three of them for declaration subsequent 12 months as a part of its wider mineral assets improvement and geosciences program.
“For 2026, we plan to conduct evaluation in three areas, specifically Palawan, Camarines Norte and Southwest Samar, for offshore important and strategic minerals whereas persevering with rigorous monitoring of mining rights to make sure sustained compliance,” DENR Undersecretary Jonas Leones mentioned on the Senate committee listening to on setting, pure assets and local weather change.
Leones mentioned the native mining sector presently covers solely 2.63 p.c of the Philippine land space, with 790,592 hectares below permitted mining tenements.
This means {that a} huge portion of the nation’s mineral-rich lands stays untapped, leaving room for brand spanking new exploration and improvement that would additional enhance financial beneficial properties if managed responsibly.
The nation is wealthy in each metallic and non-metallic minerals, with key assets together with nickel, gold, copper, chromite and iron, alongside industrial minerals similar to limestone, marble and silica.
Additional, Leones mentioned the bureau’s operations heart is now geared up with a state-of-the-art dashboard that enables real-time monitoring of floods, landslides and incident reporting.
This implies authorities can reply extra shortly to environmental dangers tied to mining actions, serving to scale back potential injury to close by communities and making certain corporations stay compliant with security and environmental requirements.
Alongside mineral assessments, Leones mentioned they’re additionally planning vulnerability assessments in 58 municipalities, hazard evaluations in 24 areas, groundwater useful resource research in 50 websites and bodily vulnerability mapping in 96 places by the identical 12 months.
DENR Assistant Secretary for Coverage, Planning, Worldwide Affairs and Local weather Change Noralene Uy mentioned the division can also be drafting a complete coverage on nature-based options, which can embody incentives for personal companies in sectors similar to agriculture and mining to undertake greener practices.