Business thrives in creating demand or making it appear that there is scarcity in supply. That said, it is for their benefit to paint a gloomy picture of the fuel supply and get richer many times over than if they just kept on silently producing.

On the issue of whether the peak oil has been reached or not, nobody on earth can exactly predict the exact year. See it here (http://eagleheartdynamic.com/wrprpeakoilrw.pdf).

What are the real numbers?

“The industry has not spent a lot of time correlating and testing their theories using recent data. Every time we take on a project, we are rolling the dice. You can’t ever know the future. The only thing you can do is get your hands on all of the historical data. What we haven’t done in the petroleum industry is look at the numbers. People can’t relate to what is really going on,” continues Simmons. With no “accurate global fuel gauge” to forecast when Peak Oil will occur, and no early warning radar system,” it threatens to strike like a ‘Pearl Harbor event.’ Predicting it accurately becomes impossible.

Although the industry needs better reporting transparency to ensure data reform, notes Simmons, world oil leaders aren’t complying to endorse it. Their reasoning defeats the possibility for transparency with excuses like “it is our confidential data” and “we might suffer a competitive disadvantage.” When the demand for oil outstrips the supply, world peace may be at risk. Simmons suggests we are “totally unprepared” and he insists there are “only a small number of people who understand why data reform is important.”

The solution may lie in enforcing compliance rules for companies. “If we forced the key oil producers to report quarterly production on a field-by-field basis, then we would be able to verify and scientifically graph their production figures. Only 250 producing fields generate 80% of the world’s oil. The Peak Oil concept needs these fields’ production statistics to accurately start to chart the data to be certain of Peak Oil production,” explains Simmons. Unfortunately, an accurate assessment of the situation cannot be made without a global consensus by the energy industry.

It would be safe to say, if it comes, it will be a question on how human behavior adapts to living without the usual things.

Business thrives in creating demand or making it appear that there is scarcity in supply. That said, it is for their benefit to paint a gloomy picture of the fuel supply and get richer many times over than if they just kept on silently producing.

The problem is that creating demand by making it appear that there is scarcity leads to higher production costs, which in turn works against oil companies. In addition, when prices go up, production has to go up as well in order to gain from the higher produces, but that didn't happen.



On the issue of whether the peak oil has been reached or not, nobody on earth can exactly predict the exact year. See it here (http://eagleheartdynamic.com/wrprpeakoilrw.pdf).



Actually, Hubbert did. He predicted that U.S. oil production would peak between the late '60s and early '70s, and production peaked in 1970. He predicted that global oil production would peak in 1995, and in 1976 moved it to 2005 due to the previous oil shock. A few months ago, the IEA just confirmed that peak oil took place in 2006.

The best proof of this can be seen in your first point. With high oil prices, companies should be ramping up production right now to meet increasing demand from BRIC. This is also seen in the recent BP report which shows energy demand higher than production from conventional sources. But SA, which insisted that it would be able to breach 100 mb/d, barely reached 90 mb/d. Now, their production costs have gone up to at least $75 per barrel.

Ironically, more proof can be seen in the very article mentioned, which refers to questionable theories like abiogenic oil as well as the use of synthetic oil, which was tried in the past. In general, references to non-conventional sources of energy to replace "easy oil" is the best evidence for peak oil, and also negates claims that oil companies are hiding something.

In addition, the latest BP report shows that increasing energy demand is now being met by the same non-conventional sources of energy, particularly biofuels, which not only contribute to food prices but are also shown to have lower EROEIs than what they are replacing.

Other errors: claims of numbers of barrels refer to what is technically recoverable, which is always several times higher than what is eventually extracted.



What are the real numbers?



Ironically, the reason why there is a debate is because several OPEC members refuse external audits, and yet despite claims that they can easily increase production, has shown not to be able to do so, with Saudi Arabia (SA) being the best example. Further proof of peak oil can be seen in SA's efforts to develop Manifa, which has heavy-sour oil.



It would be safe to say, if it comes, it will be a question on how human behavior adapts to living without the usual things.

That will definitely be the case. But since most know nothing about this problem or believe that governments and big business will come to the rescue, then they will not prepare. Fatih Birol of the IEA already mentioned this (that governments should have prepared at least a decade ago), and a second study reveals that will take decades to retool manufacturing and mechanized agriculture to use less oil.

Finally, at best adapting will very likely mean localization and using whatever resources are available to meet basic needs. Incredibly resource- and energy-hungry things like a middle class lifestyle (e.g., condo unit or houses, passenger vehicles, computers, cell phones, and other appliances and electronic gadgets, air travel, processed food available in supermarkets, and in general a JIT system) will not be sustainable. As the IEA points out, just to maintain current economic growth, we will need the equivalent of one SA every seven years. And with growing middle classes in BRIC and emerging markets, even more resources will be needed.

Actually, Hubbert did. He predicted that U.S. oil production would peak between the late '60s and early '70s, and production peaked in 1970. He predicted that global oil production would peak in 1995, and in 1976 moved it to 2005 due to the previous oil shock. A few months ago, the IEA just confirmed that peak oil took place in 2006.


I am sorry. I don't believe in predictions based on 1P data. When you said Hubbert did predict the Peak Oil, he's prediction was a dud! Read here. (http://diesel.btc.ctc.edu/Emissions/Peak%20Oil%20and%20Catastrophic%20Cults.pdf)

"Hubbert himself put the peak of global oil extraction between 1993 and 2000.
In 1977 the Workshop on Alternative Energy Strategies forecast the global oil peak as early as 1990 and most likely between 1994 and 1997.
In 1979 the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency believed that global output must fall within a decade.
In the same year British Petroleum, the world’s second largest oil company, predicted the world production peak in 1985 and the total output in the year 2000 nearly 25 percent below that maximum. In reality, global oil output in the year 2000 was nearly 25 percent above the 1985 level!
Some of the latest peak-oil proponents have already seen their forecasts fail: Campbell’s first peak was to be in 1989,
Ivanhoe’s peak was in 2000,
Deffeyes had it in 2003 (and now, ridiculously, on Thanksgiving 2005).

But they would argue that this makes no difference as that inevitable event will take place within months or years. Moreover, they claim that matters are now entirely different."

Like I said, there are so many voices, each drowning each others predictions. Uncertainties abound and we will never know if indicators are controlled or falsified.

Sandali lang nasaan na ang sinasabi at pinagyayabang ng Pinakatahimik na Pangulo na si PNoy ang Iraq size oil natin? May nakakita na ba?

I am sorry. I don't believe in predictions based on 1P data. When you said Hubbert did predict the Peak Oil, he's prediction was a dud! Read here. (http://diesel.btc.ctc.edu/Emissions/Peak%20Oil%20and%20Catastrophic%20Cults.pdf)

"Hubbert himself put the peak of global oil extraction between 1993 and 2000.
In 1977 the Workshop on Alternative Energy Strategies forecast the global oil peak as early as 1990 and most likely between 1994 and 1997.
In 1979 the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency believed that global output must fall within a decade.
In the same year British Petroleum, the world’s second largest oil company, predicted the world production peak in 1985 and the total output in the year 2000 nearly 25 percent below that maximum. In reality, global oil output in the year 2000 was nearly 25 percent above the 1985 level!
Some of the latest peak-oil proponents have already seen their forecasts fail: Campbell’s first peak was to be in 1989,
Ivanhoe’s peak was in 2000,
Deffeyes had it in 2003 (and now, ridiculously, on Thanksgiving 2005).

But they would argue that this makes no difference as that inevitable event will take place within months or years. Moreover, they claim that matters are now entirely different."

Like I said, there are so many voices, each drowning each others predictions. Uncertainties abound and we will never know if indicators are controlled or falsified.

Hubbert predicted global peak oil at 1995 + 10, or 2005:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ImV1voi41YY

The IEA has now confirmed this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YK730U0Q4NU

In which case, it's already too late to make predictions about what has already taken place. Even with SA increasing production by 0.5 mb/d, they have yet to reach the 10 mb/d production rate they mentioned months ago:

http://ftalphaville.ft.com/blog/2011/12/14/799451/the-saudi-production-puzzle/

And this is taking place amidst high oil prices (which should lead to a ramp-up of production to take advantage of such, but isn't happening). In fact, SA now admits that the price is right:

http://arabnews.com/saudiarabia/article564187.ece

to cover production costs, which have, not surprisingly, gone up because of high oil prices.

Meanwhile,

"Saudi Arabia to spend $100bn on 16 nuclear plants"

http://arabnews.com/economy/article545341.ece

Hubbert predicted global peak oil at 1995 + 10, or 2005:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ImV1voi41YY

The IEA has now confirmed this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YK730U0Q4NU

In which case, it's already too late to make predictions about what has already taken place. Even with SA increasing production by 0.5 mb/d, they have yet to reach the 10 mb/d production rate they mentioned months ago:

http://ftalphaville.ft.com/blog/2011/12/14/799451/the-saudi-production-puzzle/

And this is taking place amidst high oil prices (which should lead to a ramp-up of production to take advantage of such, but isn't happening). In fact, SA now admits that the price is right:

http://arabnews.com/saudiarabia/article564187.ece

to cover production costs, which have, not surprisingly, gone up because of high oil prices.

Meanwhile,

"Saudi Arabia to spend $100bn on 16 nuclear plants"

http://arabnews.com/economy/article545341.ece

We Are Dealing With Approximations
Nobody can measure oil and gas reserves. The numbers are estimates based on interpretation ---often quite a lot of interpretation ---of sparse data about indirect indicators like well and seismic information.
Yet people who don’t know better see numbers and assume they represent measurements, as if from some geophysical dipstick. Reserves aren’t measurable ….
Tipee, B. Reserves numbers aren’t oil’s only market perplexity.
OGJ. September 25, 2006.

We Are Dealing With Approximations
Nobody can measure oil and gas reserves. The numbers are estimates based on interpretation ---often quite a lot of interpretation ---of sparse data about indirect indicators like well and seismic information.
Yet people who don’t know better see numbers and assume they represent measurements, as if from some geophysical dipstick. Reserves aren’t measurable ….
Tipee, B. Reserves numbers aren’t oil’s only market perplexity.
OGJ. September 25, 2006.

Unfortunately, the argument works both ways. And what we have seen in the past is that what is technically recoverable is always much lower than what is extracted. That's because of EROEI.

Unfortunately, the argument works both ways. And what we have seen in the past is that what is technically recoverable is always much lower than what is extracted. That's because of EROEI.

Peak Oil and ERoEI: Still Nonsense (http://www.forbes.com/sites/timworstall/2011/11/05/peak-oil-and-eroei-still-nonsense/)
Forbes, by Tim Worstall, Contributor

I wrote recently about how peak oil is a rather nonsensical concept: technology is advancing at such a rate that we’re discovering entire new planets to explore for the stuff.

The latest comment to come back to me on that argues that because of ERoEI (Energy Return on Energy Invested) peak oil really is a serious problem and, essentially, that I’m all wet for disagreeing. The problem with this is that while the math and physics of ERoEI is just fine, indisputable even, it’s just not a very useful conceit except in certain very limited situations.

Basically, what is being said is that as oil gets deeper, more difficult to pump up, perhaps with tar sands we’ve got to use more energy to purify the stuff, then at some point we hit a boundary, a system boundary. We’ll be using more energy to get the oil out than we’ll get energy from the oil we get out. Which, self-evidently, is nonsense, that’s like the internet companies losing money on every transaction and they’ll make it up in volume.

That is, as far as I understand it, the argument. And it does work in certain special situations. It would indeed be self-evidently absurd to use 10 barrels of oil at one site to pump up one barrel of oil. Better, obviously, to use one of the 10 you have and have 9 left over.

However, this doesn’t work as an assumption about the wider world in general. For energy comes in a number of different forms, dispersed, concentrated, at various different times, some of it is directly usuable, other of it has to be transformed to become so and so on.

We have, for example, no problem at all in using tonnes of one form of oil, shipping diesel, to get an aircraft carrier and it’s aviation gasoline close to the Libyan shore so that a few gallons of that avgas can be used to bomb Ghadaffi (OK,so should be past tense there). We’re just fine with using fuel to get fuel to places.

But let’s really go wild here and think about something very different indeed.

Take, for example, the humble loaf of bread, the staff of life. We use vastly more energy to create that loaf of bread than we get out of having produced it.

Leave aside the oil use, the fertiliser, the transport, all of that. Consider instead just water. It takes 1,000 tonnes of water to grow a tonne of wheat. That water must be fresh water. Producing fresh water requires huge amounts of energy. The Sun does this very nicely for us, evaporating it from the oceans and sending it back down as rain again.

Now, think of the energy that is required to evaporate 1,000 tonnes of water…..that’s 1 million kilos at 419 kJ per kilo. 419 million kJ.

There’s around 3,000 calories in a kg of wheat. So our tonne of wheat provides us with 3 million calories. 3 million kcal (nutritional calories that is) is 12560400 kJ. A little over 12 million kJ.

So, in producing that staff of life, those grains which keep the entire world turning, we use 35 times as much energy as an input as we get as an output.

Peak Oil and ERoEI: Still Nonsense (http://www.forbes.com/sites/timworstall/2011/11/05/peak-oil-and-eroei-still-nonsense/2/)
52 comments, 10 called-out + Comment now
PAGE 2 OF 2

And we’re quite happy with this. We don’t think it odd at all. And we most certainly don’t say that it’s unsustainable because it doesn’t pass the ERoEI calculation.

The reason we’re not worried about it is because we’ve got vast amounts of energy coming to us as sunlight. Huge, massive, great big gobs of it. And we’re entirely happy to use it copiously, waste huge amounts of it, because there is so much. We want that energy in a form that can be used by our bodies and we’re just delighted to waste 97% of the energy in order to get a bit in the form we can use.

ERoEI just isn’t a binding constraint on our system, not at any human scale.

Sure, the entire world cannot use more energy than there is available to the entire world, that’s true. And it is pretty silly to use more of one form of energy to produce less of that same form of energy. But outside those two special cases, ERoEI just doesn’t mean very much.

And the reason that ERoEI doesn’t mean very much is that we’re not, an any kind of human scale, limited by the availbility of energy. The Sun simply pumps in so much energy that total energy availability simply isn’t a binding constraint upon us. What we’re interested in is usable energy and we’re quite happy to waste total energy in order to get usable. As in the growing wheat example, there’s 35 times more energy going into the system than energy we get out of it and yet we’re all just entirely delighted with said system.

So no, I’m sorry, ERoEI does not in fact mean that peak oil is inevitable or even a problem even if it is. For the math and the physics of the idea only apply in certain very specific circumstances, not as a general rule across life or the planet.

Peak Oil and ERoEI: Still Nonsense (http://www.forbes.com/sites/timworstall/2011/11/05/peak-oil-and-eroei-still-nonsense/)
Forbes, by Tim Worstall, Contributor

I wrote recently about how peak oil is a rather nonsensical concept: technology is advancing at such a rate that we’re discovering entire new planets to explore for the stuff.

The latest comment to come back to me on that argues that because of ERoEI (Energy Return on Energy Invested) peak oil really is a serious problem and, essentially, that I’m all wet for disagreeing. The problem with this is that while the math and physics of ERoEI is just fine, indisputable even, it’s just not a very useful conceit except in certain very limited situations.

Basically, what is being said is that as oil gets deeper, more difficult to pump up, perhaps with tar sands we’ve got to use more energy to purify the stuff, then at some point we hit a boundary, a system boundary. We’ll be using more energy to get the oil out than we’ll get energy from the oil we get out. Which, self-evidently, is nonsense, that’s like the internet companies losing money on every transaction and they’ll make it up in volume.

That is, as far as I understand it, the argument. And it does work in certain special situations. It would indeed be self-evidently absurd to use 10 barrels of oil at one site to pump up one barrel of oil. Better, obviously, to use one of the 10 you have and have 9 left over.

However, this doesn’t work as an assumption about the wider world in general. For energy comes in a number of different forms, dispersed, concentrated, at various different times, some of it is directly usuable, other of it has to be transformed to become so and so on.

We have, for example, no problem at all in using tonnes of one form of oil, shipping diesel, to get an aircraft carrier and it’s aviation gasoline close to the Libyan shore so that a few gallons of that avgas can be used to bomb Ghadaffi (OK,so should be past tense there). We’re just fine with using fuel to get fuel to places.

But let’s really go wild here and think about something very different indeed.

Take, for example, the humble loaf of bread, the staff of life. We use vastly more energy to create that loaf of bread than we get out of having produced it.

Leave aside the oil use, the fertiliser, the transport, all of that. Consider instead just water. It takes 1,000 tonnes of water to grow a tonne of wheat. That water must be fresh water. Producing fresh water requires huge amounts of energy. The Sun does this very nicely for us, evaporating it from the oceans and sending it back down as rain again.

Now, think of the energy that is required to evaporate 1,000 tonnes of water…..that’s 1 million kilos at 419 kJ per kilo. 419 million kJ.

There’s around 3,000 calories in a kg of wheat. So our tonne of wheat provides us with 3 million calories. 3 million kcal (nutritional calories that is) is 12560400 kJ. A little over 12 million kJ.

So, in producing that staff of life, those grains which keep the entire world turning, we use 35 times as much energy as an input as we get as an output.

His claim about peak oil being a concept is wrong because U.S. oil production peaked in 1970, two-thirds of oil-producing countries have passed or have reached peak, and oil discoveries peaked in 1964. Evidence can be seen in reports released by the IEA, BP, and Exxonmobil.

Ironically, the first half of his message not only acknowledges but even illustrates EROEI, i.e., the resources and energy to make bread.

The only evidence (if it can be called that) that questions EROEI can be seen in the fifth-to-the-last paragraph of the article, where he refers to sunlight. But he does not connect the first half of his article with his second, i.e., considering what's needed to capture, store, and use energy from sunlight requires oil, from petrochemicals to various minerals that are extracted and processed using oil.

He tries to defend himself further in his comments by arguing, for example, that there are millions of tons of rare-earth elements available, but he doesn't note the amount of energy and even various resources needed to extract, process, and distribute them. He makes the same mistake for copper and other necessities.

To make matters worse, the same argument--that there are lots of resources available and that we should not be concerned with the energy needed to use them--ironically works against the need to resort to sunlight. Put simply, since there is lots of oil available and we shouldn't care about the cost of extracting it, then we should not have to be concerned with sunlight or rare-earth elements!

Here's some info on the author:

http://seekingalpha.com/author/tim-worstall

You mentioned earlier that you prefer peer-reviewed journal articles and reports. Might this help?

http://www.mdpi.com/journal/sustainability/special_issues/New_Studies_EROI/

So, did you believe we need to spend energy 35 times over to produce what energy a single loaf of bread gives? Per ERoEI calculations?

Does it make sense spending that much? 35:1 ERoEI?

Fast-forward to the Philippine setting: do we spend more energy today on growing rice than what energy we get from eating rice? If so, how much is the ERoEI? I am asking this so that we will plan our future using your ERoEI. If the computed ERoEI is over the standard ERoEI level set by your ERoEI scientists, what food do you suggest that needs to replace rice?

Small-scale gold mining in the Philippines uses mercury and cyanide to extract elemental gold from ore extracted from mines and pits dug by hand. Sometimes, very young children are put to work at less dangerous but still rigorous tasks in the gold mining areas. These include panning in streams or rivers and hauling ore sacks that can weigh up to 60 pounds. The high price of gold and the poor economy in many developing countries has led to an increase in small-scale gold mining throughout the world.
http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7146/6761266221_d258cf681e_z.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/74082557@N00/6761266221/)
Larry Price-Philippines Gold Mines (http://www.flickr.com/photos/74082557@N00/6761266221/) by getolympus (http://www.flickr.com/people/74082557@N00/), on Flickr

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7146/6761266081_69088668d9_z.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/74082557@N00/6761266081/)
Larry Price-Philippines Gold Mines (http://www.flickr.com/photos/74082557@N00/6761266081/) by getolympus (http://www.flickr.com/people/74082557@N00/), on Flickr

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7146/6761266397_f48cd0574c_z.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/74082557@N00/6761266397/)
Larry Price-Philippines Gold Mines (http://www.flickr.com/photos/74082557@N00/6761266397/) by getolympus (http://www.flickr.com/people/74082557@N00/), on Flickr

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7161/6761266715_e6ecbe6ca2_z.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/74082557@N00/6761266715/)
Larry Price-Philippines Gold Mines (http://www.flickr.com/photos/74082557@N00/6761266715/) by getolympus (http://www.flickr.com/people/74082557@N00/), on Flickr

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7030/6761265447_1dba849f20_z.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/74082557@N00/6761265447/)
Larry Price-Philippines Gold Mines (http://www.flickr.com/photos/74082557@N00/6761265447/) by getolympus (http://www.flickr.com/people/74082557@N00/), on Flickr

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7016/6761266321_3b31a21f33_z.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/74082557@N00/6761266321/)
Larry Price-Philippines Gold Mines (http://www.flickr.com/photos/74082557@N00/6761266321/) by getolympus (http://www.flickr.com/people/74082557@N00/), on Flickr

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7033/6761266553_62a3cef8a7_z.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/74082557@N00/6761266553/)
Larry Price-Philippines Gold Mines (http://www.flickr.com/photos/74082557@N00/6761266553/) by getolympus (http://www.flickr.com/people/74082557@N00/), on Flickr

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7006/6761265679_57b26e8beb_z.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/74082557@N00/6761265679/)
Larry Price-Philippines Gold Mines (http://www.flickr.com/photos/74082557@N00/6761265679/) by getolympus (http://www.flickr.com/people/74082557@N00/), on Flickr

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7016/6761266321_3b31a21f33_z.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/74082557@N00/6761266321/)
Larry Price-Philippines Gold Mines (http://www.flickr.com/photos/74082557@N00/6761266321/) by getolympus (http://www.flickr.com/people/74082557@N00/), on Flickr

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7033/6761266553_62a3cef8a7_z.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/74082557@N00/6761266553/)
Larry Price-Philippines Gold Mines (http://www.flickr.com/photos/74082557@N00/6761266553/) by getolympus (http://www.flickr.com/people/74082557@N00/), on Flickr

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7006/6761265679_57b26e8beb_z.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/74082557@N00/6761265679/)
Larry Price-Philippines Gold Mines (http://www.flickr.com/photos/74082557@N00/6761265679/) by getolympus (http://www.flickr.com/people/74082557@N00/), on Flickr

Iyan ang epekto nga tinatawag na "small-scale mining"! Ayaw daw ibigay sa mga responsabling kompanya kesyo mga mayayaman lang ang nakikinabang. Tama naman. Kaya lang, hindi naman tinutulongan ang mga tao upang turuan kung ano ang bawal at ano ang tamang mga paraan ng pagmimina. Pati ba naman mga bata na dapat ay nag-aaral, napasubo na sa trabahong dapat ang mga magulang ang gumagawa. Kakahiya!

So, did you believe we need to spend energy 35 times over to produce what energy a single loaf of bread gives? Per ERoEI calculations?

Does it make sense spending that much? 35:1 ERoEI?

Fast-forward to the Philippine setting: do we spend more energy today on growing rice than what energy we get from eating rice? If so, how much is the ERoEI? I am asking this so that we will plan our future using your ERoEI. If the computed ERoEI is over the standard ERoEI level set by your ERoEI scientists, what food do you suggest that needs to replace rice?

It makes sense because we never calculate the actual cost of producing things in terms of energy, resources, and even damage to the environment. Also, we assume that there will always be more than enough resources, or that we can easily solve environmental damage. In short, we never use EROEI or ecological footprint calculators to measure cost. We use money, which we can create easily. And since we can more money, then we can spend more money to come up with these solutions.

But no amount of money creation solves these problems. We can increase money supply many times more (we've actually done that, as we have between $600 trillion and $1.7 quadrillion in unregulated derivatives worldwide) but that will not change the amount of energy needed to extract and process more resources or even minimize pollution.

About the EROEI for food, from what I remember, we need to expend the equivalent of around 8 calories to produce a calorie of food. We never noted that simply because for many decades oil was very cheap. That is, by consuming only around a barrel of oil we could get a hundred barrels from the ground. That is no longer the case.

Finally, we (that is, PH society) cannot plan for this because, as stated earlier, we use money to measure the economy. In addition, the economy has to keep growing because more want a middle class lifestyle (e.g., passenger vehicles, houses or condo units or flats, appliances, etc.), which means we need to consume even more energy and resources. That is why resource consumption in Asia has been growing and is offsetting demand destruction in OECD countries brought about by increasing debt.

Ultimately, a combination of resource shortages, increasing debt, and the effects of environmental damage (including climate change) will force people to localize and to let go of a middle class lifestyle. That will mean, among other things, growing food, including potatoes.

So, for all the discussions we've done, it is really an accepted fact that this ERoEI is just useless because it simply is not used. Not playing with semantics there. (No pun intended)

BTW, it seems to me you skirted away from my question. You discussed the monetary system instead, though just the skin of it. FYI, our Central Bank cannot just print money just because it wants to. Please read what is written at the back of every bill on your wallet and you'll know how it is.

So, for all the discussions we've done, it is really an accepted fact that this ERoEI is just useless because it simply is not used. Not playing with semantics there. (No pun intended)

It's not used because corporations, governments, and citizens expect the economy to grow. Obviously, it will grow as more money is created.



BTW, it seems to me you skirted away from my question. You discussed the monetary system instead, though just the skin of it. FYI, our Central Bank cannot just print money just because it wants to. Please read what is written at the back of every bill on your wallet and you'll know how it is.

Only around three pct of total money supply consists of money printed by central banks. Most money consists of numbers generated whenever commercial banks extend credit. The largest component is unregulated derivatives, estimated at between $600 trillion to more than a quadrillion dollars. Unregulated derivatives hardly involve interest rates or even fractional reserve banking.

There's a liquidity chart of total money supply linked here:

http://www.greatcreditcontraction.com/

It's not used because corporations, governments, and citizens expect the economy to grow. Obviously, it will grow as more money is created.
I guess there are some issues with how you understand economic growth and the idea of money here. Are you trying to tell us that creation of money a causal factor to economic growth? Is it that easy to improve our economy? Just creating more money? Enlighten us on that please.
Only around three pct of total money supply consists of money printed by central banks. Most money consists of numbers generated whenever commercial banks extend credit. The largest component is unregulated derivatives, estimated at between $600 trillion to more than a quadrillion dollars. Unregulated derivatives hardly involve interest rates or even fractional reserve banking.

There's a liquidity chart of total money supply linked here:
http://www.greatcreditcontraction.com/

Still, banks are required to back those loan extensions with cash by the Central Bank. Those "numbers generated whenever commercial banks extend credit" are written on an instrument, the money will follow when the instrument is brought to the bank for encashment, right? Whatever instruments the banks execute, there is an equivalent money backing that instrument else, the banks get penalized big. Besides that, banks are required to maintain a certain level of money for liquidity purposes. Therefore, the amount of printed money was already there, else, banks will reject any requests for loans. Please don't get money confused with financial instruments, will ya?

On your claim that derivatives are unregulated here in our country, am really sorry, I don't believe what you are saying there. I know there are banks trading derivatives but I know they are regulated by our CB. IDK where you get your data but here's what Mr. Tetangco once said in 2009 IIRC:"Philippine financial institutions have relatively limited exposure to structured credit and related derivative products which were the main cause of the large losses of crisis-affected international banks. It is helpful to point out that derivatives licenses in the Philippines have been given out prudently."
I do know that oil prices has nothing to do with Oil Peak or supply issues but on these derivative markets that handles how oil are traded:The price of crude oil today is not made according to any traditional relation of supply to demand. It is controlled by an elaborate financial market system as well as by the four major Anglo-American oil companies. As much as 60% of today's crude oil price is pure speculation driven by large trader banks and hedge funds. It has nothing to do with the convenient myths of Peak Oil. It has to do with control of oil and its price. How?

First, the role of the international oil exchanges in London and New York is crucial to the game. Nymex in New York and the Intercontinental Exchange (ICE) Futures in London today control global benchmark oil prices which in turn set most of the freely traded oil cargo. They do so via oil futures contracts on two grades of crude oil - West Texas Intermediate and North Sea Brent.
READ HERE (http://www.thoughts.com/JosedePadua/oil-price-hikecrisis-in-the-philippines)

I guess there are some issues with how you understand economic growth and the idea of money here. Are you trying to tell us that creation of money a causal factor to economic growth? Is it that easy to improve our economy? Just creating more money? Enlighten us on that please.

The idea is painfully obvious: we have increasing production and consumption of goods needed to have continuous economic growth. Both are funded through increasing credit. Some soon move from manufacturing and agriculture to finance, where even more profits can be earned through financial speculation, and this increases credit further. That is why the largest component of money supply is unregulated derivatives.

But that's the easy problem, as money can be created and be vaporized easily. Remember, much of it consists essentially of numbers in accounts. The hard part is the effect of increasing production and consumption, which is a resource crunch. On top of that are the effects of pollution, including climate change. No amount of funny money will solve these problems.



Still, banks are required to back those loan extensions with cash by the Central Bank. Those "numbers generated whenever commercial banks extend credit" are written on an instrument, the money will follow when the instrument is brought to the bank for encashment, right? Whatever instruments the banks execute, there is an equivalent money backing that instrument else, the banks get penalized big. Besides that, banks are required to maintain a certain level of money for liquidity purposes. Therefore, the amount of printed money was already there, else, banks will reject any requests for loans. Please don't get money confused with financial instruments, will ya?



No, because of fractional reserve banking, and the ability of banks to bypass that by borrowing from each other. There's also the fact that money doesn't simply consists of "printed money" but stocks, bonds, contracts, etc. In fact, the largest component of money supply worldwide is the latter, and it's largely unregulated.



On your claim that derivatives are unregulated here in our country, am really sorry, I don't believe what you are saying there. I know there are banks trading derivatives but I know they are regulated by our CB. IDK where you get your data but here's what Mr. Tetangco once said in 2009 IIRC:"Philippine financial institutions have relatively limited exposure to structured credit and related derivative products which were the main cause of the large losses of crisis-affected international banks. It is helpful to point out that derivatives licenses in the Philippines have been given out prudently."
I do know that oil prices has nothing to do with Oil Peak or supply issues but on these derivative markets that handles how oil are traded:The price of crude oil today is not made according to any traditional relation of supply to demand. It is controlled by an elaborate financial market system as well as by the four major Anglo-American oil companies. As much as 60% of today's crude oil price is pure speculation driven by large trader banks and hedge funds. It has nothing to do with the convenient myths of Peak Oil. It has to do with control of oil and its price. How?



I'm not referring to derivatives in PH but a global market of around $600 trillion to over a quadrillion. PH banks are not exposed to that but it's exposed to an PH economy that's dependent on overseas work and export markets, in turn affected when financial crisis takes place. That's why exports have been weakening for several months.

The second part of your paragraph proves my argument about the irrelevance of oil prices as a factor in determining the cost of oil. As you yourself have shown, it's an "elaborate financial market system" which ironically also challenges what you wrote in your first paragraph.

Thus, the only way to determine the cost of oil is to see how much oil and other resources are needed to extract oil, or EROEI. And ExxonMobil, BP, and the IEA have shown that the amount of energy needed to get more oil and other resources has been increasing for several years. And that will definitely affect oil prices with or without financial speculation.



First, the role of the international oil exchanges in London and New York is crucial to the game. Nymex in New York and the Intercontinental Exchange (ICE) Futures in London today control global benchmark oil prices which in turn set most of the freely traded oil cargo. They do so via oil futures contracts on two grades of crude oil - West Texas Intermediate and North Sea Brent.
READ HERE (http://www.thoughts.com/JosedePadua/oil-price-hikecrisis-in-the-philippines)

Exactly my point. And the same "game" is seen in much of casino capitalism.

Apparently, there's no need for me to enlighten you about this.

I still see you're confusing financial instruments from the money in circulation. There is need to go back to your notes in Monetary Systems and Economics basics.

On the oil prices, no matter what procedure you'll be using, the cold facts doesn't change - oil prices are controlled by greedy people and not because there is this Oil Peak and supply issues that some people are peddling.

Kahit na gas lang okay na,..our country is so blessed, if not oil and gas deposits, it's copper and gold, or abundance in RE sources our country really need to invest in how to retrieve commercially these resources instead of letting foreigners recover it for us on a very lop-sided sharing scheme,..

Preparatory works start for Cagayan Valley oil prospect
By Neil Jerome C. Morales (The Philippine Star) Updated February 18, 2012 12:00 AM Comments (0)

MANILA, Philippines - Preparatory works for a $5-million oil exploration project in Cagayan Valley is already under way, an official of the Department of Energy (DOE) said.

Stakeholders of Service Contract (SC) 52 are already conducting a flow test as part of the drilling works at the Nassiping-2 well, DOE Assistant Secretary Ramon Allan V. Oca said.

“They have reached the target depth and they are expected to start the flow test,” he said.

The exploratory drilling began on Feb. 8 and reached a depth target of 3,014.4 meters on Feb. 11.

The SC 52 consortium is composed of Australia’s Frontier Gasfields Pty. Ltd. which has a 30 percent stake, Frontier Oil Corp. (50 percent) and E.F. Durkee & Associates (20 percent).

The group expects a well flow test for the Nassiping-2 this weekend. The test will aid the firms in determining the well design and equipment needed to develop the oil and gas reserves in the area.

SC 52 covers 96,000 hectares in Piat-San Jose in northern Cagayan Valley. The Nassiping-2 is an existing well containing a previously discovered but untested gas discovery. It was drilled in 1984 and penetrated a substantial, gas-bearing limestone section but was not flow-tested.

“The well test duration will be dependent upon results,” Frontier Gasfields said.



Frontier Gasfields and locally listed Trans-Asia Oil and Energy Development Corp. earlier signed a farm-in option agreement for SC 52 wherein Trans-Asia has the option to acquire 10 percent of the block upon payment of an agreed amount.

http://www.philstar.com/Article.aspx?articleId=778566&publicationSubCategoryId=66

I still see you're confusing financial instruments from the money in circulation. There is need to go back to your notes in Monetary Systems and Economics basics.

The problem isn't that I'm confusing financial instruments with money in circulation, it's that you think money consists only of coins and bills, that financial instruments cannot be used as money, that only governments create money, and that banks cannot lend more than what they have on hand. All of these arguments are wrong.


On the oil prices, no matter what procedure you'll be using, the cold facts doesn't change - oil prices are controlled by greedy people and not because there is this Oil Peak and supply issues that some people are peddling.

Oil prices are driven by combinations of speculation and increasing demand. If it were driven heavily by the former, then we should see wild swings in the price right now, but that's not the case.

The truth, as BP reveals, is that oil production has been in an undulating plateau since 2006, exactly as Hubbert predicted. Meanwhile, energy demand continues to go up and now met by increasing reliance on non-conventional sources of energy. That is absolute proof of peak oil. If peak oil were not true, then there would hardly be any reliance on non-conventional sources of energy at all, not even the need to revive dead fields:

"Saudi Aramco to Re-Open Oldest Field to Tap Heavy Oil, EIU"

http://www.businessweek.com/news/2012-02-17/saudi-aramco-to-re-open-oldest-field-to-tap-heavy-oil-eiu.html

And that's heavy-sour oil, which like that of Manifa, requires higher energy costs for processing, and further illustrates EROEI.

In the end, no amount of funny money creation will solve lower energy returns. And any "peddling" will involve the opposite: the need to see peak oil as a "myth" and thus encourage people to spend more.

Carcinogen found in water of Palawan underground river (http://businessmirror.com.ph/home/regions/23653-carcinogen-found-in-water-of-palawan-underground-river)
February 23, 2012

A HIGH level of hexavalent chromium (Cr-VI), a toxic and carcinogenic chemical, was detected at the Togupon River in Palawan Island, home to the world-famous underground river of Puerto Princesa City, an environmental study conducted by experts showed.

Alarmed by such finding, environmental groups belonging to the Kalikasan-People’s Network for the Environment (Kalikasan-PNE) called on President Aquino to suspend mining operations in the area pending further investigation of its impact on human health and the environment.

Clemente Bautista, national coordinator of Kalikasan-PNE, called on erring companies “to clean up and rehabilitate the contaminated water bodies to immediately avert possible impacts on surrounding communities and ecosystems.”

He said their group is now studying the possibility of pursuing a legal case against those responsible for the river’s contamination.

Carcinogen found in water of Palawan underground river (http://businessmirror.com.ph/home/regions/23653-carcinogen-found-in-water-of-palawan-underground-river)
February 23, 2012

A HIGH level of hexavalent chromium (Cr-VI), a toxic and carcinogenic chemical, was detected at the Togupon River in Palawan Island, home to the world-famous underground river of Puerto Princesa City, an environmental study conducted by experts showed.

Alarmed by such finding, environmental groups belonging to the Kalikasan-People’s Network for the Environment (Kalikasan-PNE) called on President Aquino to suspend mining operations in the area pending further investigation of its impact on human health and the environment.

Clemente Bautista, national coordinator of Kalikasan-PNE, called on erring companies “to clean up and rehabilitate the contaminated water bodies to immediately avert possible impacts on surrounding communities and ecosystems.”

He said their group is now studying the possibility of pursuing a legal case against those responsible for the river’s contamination.

Our news business really still has a long way in improving the quality of information they report! Crazy reporter or lazy proof readers? The title says "carcinogen found in water of Palawan underground river" (located at Sabang, northern Palawan) but the link mentions Rio Tuba Nickel Mining Corporation - which can be found in southern Palawan!

Still, this needs to be investigated by the DENR!

But I doubt if these CrVI can be generated in nature unless extreme heat is introduced into the ore containing chromium! I tried searching the internet to see how this carcinogen gets to affect people. I found out that CrVI is dangerous when inhaled (in gaseous state); not dissolved in water! Here (http://www.ehjournal.net/content/5/1/5)

FWIW, let's hear it from the experts with no hidden agenda. DENR, DENR, calling DENR!

Reed Bank oil hunt widened
3

by Alena Mae S. Flores

Forum Energy Plc, a London-based oil and gas company, is looking at new oil and gas prospects not far from the disputed Spratly group of islands in the South China Sea.

Forum Energy, controlled by Philex Mining Corp. of the Hong Kong-based First Pacific group, said the new prospects lie outside of the Sampaguita gas discovery field but within the Recto Bank (formerly Reed Bank) in the South China Sea.

The company said in a statement data from previous 2D and 3D seismic studies on service contract 72, where the Sampaguita gas field is located, were being interpreted by an international consultancy company. A final report is expected by middle of the year.

The SC 72 license covers an 8,800 square kilometers in offshore west Palawan in the South China Sea. It is estimated to contain 3.4 trillion cubic feet of gas but Forum Energy said eight additional leads which require further work has the potential to add a further 20 trillion cubic feet of gas.

“The interpretation of the 3D data aims to identify optimal drilling locations over the Sampaguita gas field. The interpretation of the 2D data is also ongoing and aims to identify new prospects outside the Sampaguita gas field and potentially to elevate known leads to prospect status,” Forum said.

Forum Energy earlier said the Recto Bank is at least 150 kilometers east of the Spratlys and is closer to the island of Palawan. The contract area is also within the 200 nautical mile exclusive economic zone of the Philippines.

China and the Philippines, along with other nations, are locked in a territorial dispute in the South China Sea.

Taiwan, Brunei, Malaysia and Vietnam also have claims in the South China Sea, particularly in the Spratly group of islands.

China has made aggressive moves in the contested islands, prompting Manila and Hanoi to file diplomatic protests.

Forum Energy did not say when it planned to start exploratory drilling.

Forum Energy has a 70-percent stake in SC 72 while 30 percent is held by Monte Oro Resources and Energy Inc.

Energy Undersecretary Jay Layug earlier said Forum Energy did not have a “firm commitment” to drill an exploratory well this year.

Those that committed to drill this year are Blade Petroleum (Cadlao block, service contract 6 in Northern Palawan), Galoc Production Co., (SC 14 in NW Palawan), PNOC Exploration Corp. (SC 37 in Cagayan and SC 63 in SW Palawan), Gas2Grid (SC 44 in Visayas Basin), CIMP (SC 49 in Visayas Basin), Frigstad Energy (SC 50 in NW Palawan), Pitkin Petroleum (SC 53 in Mindoro-Cuyo) and BHP Billiton (SC 54 and 59 in SW Palawan).

http://www.manilastandardtoday.com/insideBusiness.htm?f=/2012/january/31/business1.isx&d=2012/january/31

Heated exchange between MVP, Gina Lopez punctuates mining debates (http://www.interaksyon.com/article/25870/heated-exchange-between-mvp-gina-lopez-punctuates-mining-debates)

MANILA, Philippines -- (UPDATE, 7:02 p.m.) The chairman of the country's biggest mining company, Manny V. Pangilinan, on Friday engaged ABS-CBN Foundation head Gina Lopez in a heated face-to-face debate over the industry's social and environmental responsibility, rejecting a sweeping statement that portrayed Pangilinan as blind to the environmental and community issues in mining areas.

Pangilinan, chairman of Philex Mining Corp, was particularly irked by Lopez's assertion that Pangilinan had called "all" mining sites "ugly anyway."

"I never said that. Now you're lying," Pangilinan said.

The debate punctuated the Conference on Philippine Mining's Impact on Economy and Ecology, and the industry's and the environmental advocates' advocacies on either side of the discussion.

"You said that the areas that are gonna be mined are ugly anyway. That's so not true. It's not true that the areas to be mined are ugly, you can't do anything there anyway," Lopez said at the conference.

She noted Sibuyan Island in Romblon with its dense forest and clean water.

"And yet the mining tenement was approved there on top of agricultural land," she said.

Lopez also cited Brooke's Point, where she said she has drunk water from a stream. "And yet the government has approved $1 billion worth of mining in that place," she said.

"So when you say that...all these people that come to us...When you say that all these mining areas are ugly anyway, you need to go and visit them," she said.

Pangilinan then cited Padcal in Silangan in Surigao del Norte.

"Who would want to go there and develop a tourism site? There's nothing there," he said.

Before mining entered the place, it was deforested, denuded, Pangilinan said.

"Since that time we've planted 7 million trees...and you know we have a self-contained community, we provide free housing, free hospitals, free education up to high school. What else can you do?

"We have a post-rehab plan. We set aside each year an amount of money because one day that mine will close. There’s a post-rehab plan. Whether by law or not, we do. We care about the people. At some point these guys have to fend for themselves."

Lopez again stood up and said, "...maybe that place is nice and I submit it may be nice...But maybe when you make a statement that all the areas where there’s gonna be mining are ugly anyway, that's the point."

Pangilinan, seated a table away from Lopez, rose to his feet: "I did not say that. Now you're lying."

The master of ceremonies at the conference quickly stepped in, officially moving on from the heated exchange.

(Editor's note: Pangilinan is also chairman of ABC Development Corp., which operates TV5, for which InterAksyon.com is the online news portal.)

please read the comments also. very intriguing revelations...

Heated exchange between MVP, Gina Lopez punctuates mining debates (http://www.interaksyon.com/article/25870/heated-exchange-between-mvp-gina-lopez-punctuates-mining-debates)



please read the comments also. very intriguing revelations...

That daughter of hypocrite oligarch did not understand what she is saying,..did you think Tagum is poor city? It's economy is one of the strongest among the cities in pinas even it's city hood was just a decade old compared to most cities of the country. It's economy is based on two types of gold: the mineral gold itself and the green gold (BUS$) banana industry,..most of the moneyed people and businessmen of the place struck their riches from mining gold and started only panning gold in the rivers around davao del norte but now they own big business interests in Davao region,..besides, dapat ma-mina natin ang mga ito tayo mismo mga pilipino at dapat walang corruption in the system and the environment na dapat gobyerno ang mangunguna sa pagmina, hinde sa corruption,..

The great city in the making,..(Courtesy of wikipedia):

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/thumb/2/2a/Tagum_City_Montage.jpg/342px-Tagum_City_Montage.jpg

"NOW YOU'RE LYING"

Here's that heated argument



http://http://www.youtube.d1U4CYkSLbc

Gina Lopez: Kamusta na yung West Tower Condo?

Gina Lopez: Kamusta na yung West Tower Condo?

AFAIK, they're mining the area and they found oil! Perhaps Gina will be involved in oil business near West Tower Condo! :bash::bash::bash:

yan ang environmentalist si gina lopez isa sa mga ngcontaminate ng waters sa west tower makati hahaha

this is in rio tuba, palawan, where an "ugly" lush forest is getting in the way of mining..:ohno:
http://i1229.photobucket.com/albums/ee466/protektado/riotuba.jpg

The government's lazy ass should drive and get involved in mining and recovery of these natural resources this is of national interest,..if what MVP said is true ( regarding Philex mines), then that's responsible mining practices,..

this is in rio tuba, palawan, where an "ugly" lush forest is getting in the way of mining..:ohno:
http://i1229.photobucket.com/albums/ee466/protektado/riotuba.jpg

This is corruption in highest order, dapat inayos nila uli yung pinagminahan nila at tinaniman ng mga punong kahoy,..by the way, marami tayong lugar na maraming ginto at copper, pwedeng yun muna ipa-mina nila, lalo na kung reserve yung forest na yan and for every tree cut, they should re-plant 10 trees,..

MVP is right on this one though.
http://i1229.photobucket.com/albums/ee466/protektado/manicani.jpg

Marie Antoinette and Gina Lopez

THE poor people of a small town, Manicani, in Eastern Samar do not have much of an education....She came to visit the poor people of Manicani some weeks ago to entice them to fight mining. But she was told that the mine, still under the development stage, would be the poor people’s only possible source of livelihood.....Hardly anything grows on Manicani, not even weeds for goats and cattle. There is the prospect of making a living working for the nickel mine concession...

http://www.malaya.com.ph/02152012/bus_incidental.html

That daughter of hypocrite oligarch did not understand what she is saying,..did you think Tagum is poor city? It's economy is one of the strongest among the cities in pinas even it's city hood was just a decade old compared to most cities of the country. It's economy is based on two types of gold: the mineral gold itself and the green gold (BUS$) banana industry,..most of the moneyed people and businessmen of the place struck their riches from mining gold and started only panning gold in the rivers around davao del norte but now they own big business interests in Davao region,..besides, dapat ma-mina natin ang mga ito tayo mismo mga pilipino at dapat walang corruption in the system and the environment na dapat gobyerno ang mangunguna sa pagmina, hinde sa corruption,..

The great city in the making,..(Courtesy of wikipedia):



can you give me a link where she mentioned that Tagum City is poor? :hi:

can you give me a link where she mentioned that Tagum City is poor? :hi:

I refer to her line she mentioned that mining areas are the poorest in the country??? Had she been to southern Mindanao (Davao region), particularly Comval/ Dvo del norte??? Its center is the city of Tagum, then she's lying indeed,..The gold in these areas are inexhaustible, since the 80's people are already mining the gold first along the rivers and the creeks which just overflows from the mountainsides during heavy rains, yes without regards to any kinds of laws everybody's a royal rumble to get hold of the precious mineral. In fact there is a high demand of condos in Davao from many miner turned multi-millionaires as the bulk of the buying customers. The sad part is that, the government is like a monkey gesturing "see no evil, hear no evil, say no evil" or nakatunganga lang na sana cla ang mangunguna sa pag recover nito para sa ating bansa,..

http://www.bilerico.com/2010/06/hear-see-speak-no-evil1.jpg

hi guys,

any idea how much ethanol in phil is?

hi guys,

any idea how much ethanol in phil is?

Ethanol is a processed product. Not something mined. Just collect data on how much corn, cassava, sugarcane, etc our country produces and assume we will ferment them all into ethanol, that's how much ethanol we have in the Philippines. But bear in mind, it will be a battle of products for food versus products for fuel.

Consider e.g. sugarcane: a 100 kg sugar will produce around 90 liters of ethanol. (P3,200/100 kg versus P2,372/90 liters ethanol; in short LUGI TAYO DYAN!)

Hey Parchie,

I do understand. My question was more or less to find out what the current market rate of 1 m3 of ethanol is. But thanks for your reply, much appreciated.

Thing is that I am just trying to gather some information regarding biofuel.

Thanks again

Why oil prices and power rates keep on rising

By Cecilio T. Arillo

To answer this question, let us first look at the country’s energy situation for 12 years, a specific period covered by President Marcos’s total energy plan for the country that succeeded on the right combination of regulated policies, resulting to the steady, low-cost supply of oil and cheap electricity to consumers.

In that period, the Marcos government, based on indisputable government records, had also succeeded in reducing the country’s dependence on Middle East oil from 92 percent in 1973 to 71 percent in 1980 and more to 57 percent in 1984. By 1985, the Philippines stood as the world’s second largest user of geothermal power, next to California, resulting further to a 44 percent reduction of the country’s dependence on imported oil worth billions of pesos in savings.

On June 19, 1986, four months after the Edsa Revolution, President Corazon Cojuangco Aquino, deliberately abolished the Ministry of Energy and placed the successful multibillion-peso National Power Corporation (NPC), Petron and the Philippine National Oil Corporation (PNOC) under the supervision of the Office of the President.

The NPC had incomes in sales revenue from P0.4 billion to P18 billion and had total assets of P107.2 billion between 1977 and 1985, almost 10 times of what it had in 1977. Mrs. Aquino’s government broke it up, dissipated some of its assets and privatized majority of its operations, including generations, transmissions and distribution under the guise of doing away government monopoly over the energy sector.

Also at that time, PNOC was featured annually in Fortune’s 500 Best Corporations with incomes running into billions of dollars while Petron served as a buffer against foreign oil production and distribution monopoly. Petron, with multibillion-peso assets, controlled 40 percent of the fuel distribution network in the country.

To justify the abolition of the energy department and to cover the paper trail, President Aquino through the Presidential Commission on Good Government (PCGG) subsequently charged the late Energy Secretary Geronimo Zamora Velasco with having allegedly committed corruption, only to be declared later innocent by the Supreme Court.

Velasco died sometime ago but left behind a solid reputation of honesty and certitude as well as his own personal files made into a book that exposed the unforgivable sins of the Aquino regime in the energy sector.

Here’s an extract of Mr. Velasco’s 209-page book Trailblazing, published in 2006:

“…it appears that Mrs. Aquino abolished the ministry upon the advice of Cesar Buenaventura, who had claimed that the Ministry of Energy was ‘the most corrupt’ among the Marcos-era agencies.

“…Cesar Buenaventura was one of Mrs. Aquino’s closest advisers, but he also happened to be the president of Pilipinas Shell at the time. I have no idea as to Buenaventura’s basis for claiming that the ministry was the ‘most corrupt,’ but I also have no doubt that he had Shell’s interest in mind when he recommended the ministry’s abolition. I could sense that the foreign oil companies were never happy with PNOC, not only because Petron led the pricing structure in the oil market, but also because PNOC’s energy development program, with its emphasis on tapping non-oil sources, threatened to erode the oil companies’ position in the energy market.

“Riding on the wave of anti-Marcos sentiment was a good way to eliminate a rival. In my opinion, the abolition of the ministry showed Mrs. Aquino’s inexperience in proper governance. Buenaventura may have been a close friend of hers, but how could she, in conscience, consult someone like him whose interest was to protect his employer, a foreign oil company operating in the Philippines? On the mere say-so of Buenaventura, Mrs. Aquino dismantled the whole energy complex that took twelve years to build and which, in government annals, was unique for the successes it achieved considering the constraints that faced by the country.

...
“Joker revealed that other advisers had already been eyeing Petron’s privatization early on in Mrs. Aquino’s term; they were lobbying for British Petroleum and for a Kuwaiti oil company. Other groups close to Mrs. Aquino’s advisers were interested in PNOC’s privatization because this would enable them to get their hands on Petron.

“From a policy perspective, there was no reason to privatize PNOC/Petron even at the time. Why would a government in dire need of cash be willing to let go of a good source of income? PNOC was the biggest government corporation in terms of revenue.

“Much of it was due to Petron, which commanded about 40 percent of the local oil market and occupied the top spot in the industry. More important, as Joker himself acknowledged, PNOC’s involvement in oil importation, refining, and marketing took away the foreign oil companies’ advantage of being the only ones who knew how to play the game. It is not surprising then that Petron threatened the interest of multinational oil companies.

“Joker’s point about PNOC’s impact on the oil companies is significant, if only because it affirms the fact that foreign oil companies have always invited suspicion that they act as a cartel and dictate the local price of oil regardless of international prices. This issue has hounded the local oil industry since the Ramos Administration deregulated the sector, and has intensified in times of unabated oil price increases, such as what we are experiencing now.

“To my mind, however, there is one important question that we should confront–a question that has so far evaded a real answer: As a matter of policy, what should we expect from the foreign oil companies in the Philippines?

To answer Mr. Velasco’s question, when the Aquino regime deregulated the energy industry, foreign oil companies formed their own cartel and dictated their own prices, leaving consumers helpless from the harsh effects of rising prices of oil, electricity, water and other commodities.

...

To read the complete article ...
http://www.manilastandardtoday.com/insideOpinion_mstd.htm?f=//2012/March/16/everyman.isx&n=opinion&d=/2012/March/16

Why oil prices and power rates keep on rising

By Cecilio T. Arillo

To answer this question, let us first look at the country’s energy situation for 12 years, a specific period covered by President Marcos’s total energy plan for the country that succeeded on the right combination of regulated policies, resulting to the steady, low-cost supply of oil and cheap electricity to consumers.

In that period, the Marcos government, based on indisputable government records, had also succeeded in reducing the country’s dependence on Middle East oil from 92 percent in 1973 to 71 percent in 1980 and more to 57 percent in 1984. By 1985, the Philippines stood as the world’s second largest user of geothermal power, next to California, resulting further to a 44 percent reduction of the country’s dependence on imported oil worth billions of pesos in savings.

On June 19, 1986, four months after the Edsa Revolution, President Corazon Cojuangco Aquino, deliberately abolished the Ministry of Energy and placed the successful multibillion-peso National Power Corporation (NPC), Petron and the Philippine National Oil Corporation (PNOC) under the supervision of the Office of the President.

The NPC had incomes in sales revenue from P0.4 billion to P18 billion and had total assets of P107.2 billion between 1977 and 1985, almost 10 times of what it had in 1977. Mrs. Aquino’s government broke it up, dissipated some of its assets and privatized majority of its operations, including generations, transmissions and distribution under the guise of doing away government monopoly over the energy sector.

Also at that time, PNOC was featured annually in Fortune’s 500 Best Corporations with incomes running into billions of dollars while Petron served as a buffer against foreign oil production and distribution monopoly. Petron, with multibillion-peso assets, controlled 40 percent of the fuel distribution network in the country.

To justify the abolition of the energy department and to cover the paper trail, President Aquino through the Presidential Commission on Good Government (PCGG) subsequently charged the late Energy Secretary Geronimo Zamora Velasco with having allegedly committed corruption, only to be declared later innocent by the Supreme Court.

Velasco died sometime ago but left behind a solid reputation of honesty and certitude as well as his own personal files made into a book that exposed the unforgivable sins of the Aquino regime in the energy sector.

Here’s an extract of Mr. Velasco’s 209-page book Trailblazing, published in 2006:

“…it appears that Mrs. Aquino abolished the ministry upon the advice of Cesar Buenaventura, who had claimed that the Ministry of Energy was ‘the most corrupt’ among the Marcos-era agencies.

“…Cesar Buenaventura was one of Mrs. Aquino’s closest advisers, but he also happened to be the president of Pilipinas Shell at the time. I have no idea as to Buenaventura’s basis for claiming that the ministry was the ‘most corrupt,’ but I also have no doubt that he had Shell’s interest in mind when he recommended the ministry’s abolition. I could sense that the foreign oil companies were never happy with PNOC, not only because Petron led the pricing structure in the oil market, but also because PNOC’s energy development program, with its emphasis on tapping non-oil sources, threatened to erode the oil companies’ position in the energy market.

“Riding on the wave of anti-Marcos sentiment was a good way to eliminate a rival. In my opinion, the abolition of the ministry showed Mrs. Aquino’s inexperience in proper governance. Buenaventura may have been a close friend of hers, but how could she, in conscience, consult someone like him whose interest was to protect his employer, a foreign oil company operating in the Philippines? On the mere say-so of Buenaventura, Mrs. Aquino dismantled the whole energy complex that took twelve years to build and which, in government annals, was unique for the successes it achieved considering the constraints that faced by the country.

...
“Joker revealed that other advisers had already been eyeing Petron’s privatization early on in Mrs. Aquino’s term; they were lobbying for British Petroleum and for a Kuwaiti oil company. Other groups close to Mrs. Aquino’s advisers were interested in PNOC’s privatization because this would enable them to get their hands on Petron.

“From a policy perspective, there was no reason to privatize PNOC/Petron even at the time. Why would a government in dire need of cash be willing to let go of a good source of income? PNOC was the biggest government corporation in terms of revenue.

“Much of it was due to Petron, which commanded about 40 percent of the local oil market and occupied the top spot in the industry. More important, as Joker himself acknowledged, PNOC’s involvement in oil importation, refining, and marketing took away the foreign oil companies’ advantage of being the only ones who knew how to play the game. It is not surprising then that Petron threatened the interest of multinational oil companies.

“Joker’s point about PNOC’s impact on the oil companies is significant, if only because it affirms the fact that foreign oil companies have always invited suspicion that they act as a cartel and dictate the local price of oil regardless of international prices. This issue has hounded the local oil industry since the Ramos Administration deregulated the sector, and has intensified in times of unabated oil price increases, such as what we are experiencing now.

“To my mind, however, there is one important question that we should confront–a question that has so far evaded a real answer: As a matter of policy, what should we expect from the foreign oil companies in the Philippines?

To answer Mr. Velasco’s question, when the Aquino regime deregulated the energy industry, foreign oil companies formed their own cartel and dictated their own prices, leaving consumers helpless from the harsh effects of rising prices of oil, electricity, water and other commodities.

...

To read the complete article ...
http://www.manilastandardtoday.com/insideOpinion_mstd.htm?f=//2012/March/16/everyman.isx&n=opinion&d=/2012/March/16

Thanks for posting this article. At least truth gets printed now.

^^ You're welcome!

Mineral development policy deviation between the Philippines and Indonesia.


Raw Commodity Export Ban Sparks Smelter Building Boom in Indonesia
http://www.thejakartaglobe.com/business/raw-commodity-export-ban-sparks-smelter-building-boom-in-indonesia/499567

Indonesia's Neighbor Stands to Benefit From Ore Ban
http://www.thejakartaglobe.com/business/indonesias-neighbor-stands-to-benefit-from-ore-ban/508769

'World-class discovery' in Recto Bank, Philippine oil exploration company announces

23-Apr-12, 8:22 AM | Likha Cuevas-Miel, InterAksyon.com

ANILA, Philippines - Amid rising tensions between the Philippines and China over a section of the West Philippine Sea, a member of the private consortium exploring oil in the area said it may have made a "world-class discovery."

Officials of Atok-Big Wedge Co. told shareholders during its annual meeting that a report from experts commissioned to assess Service Contract (SC) 72 in Reed Bank has yielded a “world-class discovery.”

Walter Brown, Atok vice chairman, said the board met last week to assess the results of the seismic test at SC 72, also known as the Recto Bank, and they were “encouraged” by what they have seen from the report.

“The results were extremely favorable and we’re very optimistic about it,” Brown said, adding that based on their assessment, Atok has to defer other exploration projects, especially in Laos.

“We’re focusing now on oil and gas. It’s not difficult but you have to decide. But at this point we are much more interested in this prospect,” Brown said, referring to SC 72.

Atok is allotting P350 million for oil exploration and only a minuscule amount would go to mining, the official said.

The executive was not at liberty to disclose what the report contained only to say that it is a "world-class discovery.” Atok management has to wait until Forum Energy Plc discloses the information at the London Stock Exchange in the coming days.

“The results very much exceeded our expectations. We are very happy.” Roberto V. Ongpin, Atok chairman, told shareholders.

Brown said that there are several public companies involved in exploration activities in SC 72 and that Atok management does not want to preempt the others who have bigger stakes in the field that covers the Sampaguita prospect.

Atok has a 25.6-percent stake in Forum Energy, which owns 70 percent of the consortium that holds SC 72, with the rest owned by Monte Oro Resources & Energy Inc.

Forum Energy is majority owned by Philex Petroleum Corp, a unit of Philex Mining Corp. chaired by Manuel V. Pangilinan, who is also the chairman of TV5 and its online news portal InterAksyon.com.

Pangilinan had said the reserves in SC 72 could rival that of the Malampaya field.

Given signs that the prospect is economically viable, the consortium will start drilling by the end of the year. The question of whether to drill one well or a back-to-back well however remains on the table.

According to Atok officials and shareholders, the Swedes had drilled the area around Reed Bank in the late 1970s until the early 1980s, yielding some gas discoveries. This prospect was later abandoned for failing the test of economic viability.

However, the oil and gas exploration landscape has changed since, especially with the Malampaya field now producing the gas requirements of the Philippines, which is scrambling to build more power plants that use fuel other than coal and crude to stave off a power crisis, Brown said.

When asked if SC 72 contained oil, Brown said that as a geologist by profession, "there is probably a condensate. Geologically, there is a possibility of oil but not in the upper zone.”

According to a source at the Department of Energy, the “condensate” in a gas field is the liquid component, “or in layman’s terms, crude oil.”

To date, only the Galoc field within the vicinity of the Calamian Group of Islands in Northern Palawan produces oil in the Philippines.
.
http://www.interaksyon.com/article/30083/world-class-discovery-in-recto-bank-philippine-oil-exploration-company-announces


Recto Bank natural gas reserves bigger than those in Malampaya -- DoE

23-Apr-12, 1:45 PM | Michelle Orosa, TV5

MANILA, Philippines - (UPDATE 7:02 PM) The Department of Energy on Monday confirmed that the natural gas reserves in Recto Bank are bigger than those in Malampaya.

The energy department's revelation came on the heels of remarks by a member of the private consortium exploring oil in the area that it may have made a "world-class discovery."

Officials of Atok-Big Wedge Co. had told shareholders during its annual meeting that a report from experts commissioned to assess Service Contract (SC) 72 in Reed Bank has yielded a “world-class discovery.”

According to Energy Undersecretary Jay Layug, it is very likely that the natural gas at Recto Bank exceeds the 2.7-trillion cubic feet in the Malampaya Natural Gas Field that has for years provided the country billions in revenue.

"We are hoping for equal, if not at least a bit higher natural gas from Sampaguita Field," Layug said Monday, referring to the area in Recto Bank where a consortium of three firms--- Forum Energy, Monte de Oro and Walter Brown---have been exploring.

The DoE said a new, substantial find in natural gas is important to the Philippines because the supply coming from Malampaya is estimated to run out by 2024.

Malampaya now supplies 40 percent of power to provide electricity to Luzon. Of the 2.7-trillion cubic feet of reserves in the field off Palawan, an estimated 1.2-trillion cubic feet of natgas has been used.

Recto Bank is ours, period

Meanwhile, Layug stressed that Philippine ownership of Recto Bank is beyond dispute, considering it is only 70 nautical miles west of Palawan, nearly twice as close to the mainland than Scarborough (Panatag) Shoal off Zambales province, and parts of the Spratly island chain. China insists on claiming both Recto Bank and Panatag Shoal, even though both are within the Philippines’s 200-mile exclusive economic zone. A stand-off over fishing rights that began April 10 is still ongoing at Panatag.

As for Recto Bank, Layug said Monday, "Hindi na dapat issue yan. As far as the Philippines is concerned, Recto Bank is ours," sabi ni Layug.

The government started exploring for natural gas at Recto Bank since the 1980's but since there was no market yet for natgas, it gave to the Forum Energy-led consortium the service contract for SC 72. The bidding for the rights to explore was part of a series of contracting rounds set by the Aquino administration in order to encourage energy investments, diversify the country’s energy supply base and maximize economic benefits from the natural resources.

http://www.interaksyon.com/article/30110/recto-bank-natural-gas-reserves-bigger-than-those-in-malampaya----doe

^^Kaya pala hinaras ng Chinese yung survey ship na kinontrata natin...

The country needs more investments in crude oil refinery, mineral smelter plants and petrochem plants.

Reforestation is needed also to replenish our timber/wood resources.

The country needs more investments in crude oil refinery, mineral smelter plants and petrochem plants.

Reforestation is needed also to replenish our timber/wood resources.

Agree sir. Our ASEAN neighbors have lots of these thats why their economies are strong and vibrant.

Shell to invest P6.5B for refinery

MANILA, Philippines—Pilipinas Shell Petroleum Corp. is investing about $150 million (roughly P6.45 billion) to upgrade its refinery in Tabangao, Batangas, which will not only result in more efficient operations for the oil firm, but will also help shield Filipinos from the volatility of global oil prices.

The company has decided on this action despite facing numerous lawsuits filed by the government over Pilipinas Shell’s alleged tax evasion and misdeclaration of imported raw materials.

Pilipinas Shell was already close to completing a technical study that would evaluate possible modifications in the design and refining processes of Pilipinas Shells’ 110,000-barrels-a-day refinery.

The actual upgrading activities are set to begin next year and the modernized facility hopes to start commercial operations by 2015.

By upgrading the facility, Pilipinas Shell will be able to produce more “white products” such as liquefied petroleum gas, gasoline and diesel in its refinery out of the “black yields,” thus helping meet rising fuel demand of the local market.http://business.inquirer.net/65469/shell-to-invest-p6-5b-for-refinery

Shell to spend $150 M for refinery upgrade



By Neil Jerome C. Morales (The Philippine Star) Updated June 17, 2012 12:00 AM Comments (0)

MANILA, Philippines - Oil industry giant Pilipinas Shell Petroleum Corp. is spending as much as $150 million to upgrade its refinery in Batangas.

Shell’s investment forms part of the investment commitments generated by President Aquino’s recent trade mission to the United Kingdom.

“The modernized and upgraded refinery will be in commercial operation by 2015. Investment is estimated at $100-150 million,” Energy Secretary Jose Rene Almendras said in an e-mail yesterday.

Almendras said Shell would start the upgrade early next year. To date, the local unit of Royal Dutch Shell Plc. operates a refinery in Tabangao, Batangas with a capacity of 110,000 barrels per day.

“One of the things that came out of the business meetings in the UK and US is the renewed confidence in the Philippine economy,” Almendras said.

The country’s gross domestic product surged 6.4 percent in the first quarter, faster than the revised growth of 4.9 percent in the same period last year, driven by government spending and private consumption.

It is faster than the five to six percent full year target of the government.

Last week, Shell said it is close to completing a technical study to evaluate possible modifications in the design and refining processes of Shells’ refinery.

The study aims to determine the necessary changes in the facility that would allow Shell to meet the new Philippine National Standards for ‘Euro IV’ grade diesel and gasoline set to take effect in 2016.

Almendras said the upgrade, which would result in value-added products, would be for the Philippine market.

Last week, Shell said it signed a deal with the Philippine government for a joint technical feasibility study for a liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminal in Batangas. The proposed site of the LNG import and regasification terminal is located adjacent to Shell’s refinery.

The government has a $2.1-billion natural gas master plan, which includes the construction of an integrated Bataan LNG terminal and several LNG-fired power plants.

http://www.philstar.com/Article.aspx?articleId=817918&publicationSubCategoryId=66

Colmenares on Malampaya as a milking cow
Details Published on Wednesday, 20 June 2012 00:00 Written by DUCKY PAREDES

...Colmenares calls SC 38 an anomaly. He says that, while most countries would have negotiated for at least a 30-40 percent share in consortiums exploiting their resources, Shell and Chevron took 90 percent of the consortium shares and allowed the Philippine government only a pittance --10 percent. And we get to pay their expenses, too! :ohno:

http://www.malaya.com.ph/index.php/opinion/6708-colmenares-on-malampaya-as-a-milking-cow

wow, that's crazy.

you get peanuts.

Hey, is there any news about further explorations of our newest territory, The Benham Rise? It's supposed to be rich in raw materials for steel production and of course, the holiest of holy grails, oil & gas.

Palace: Mining EO can withstand judicial scrutiny (http://www.philstar.com/Article.aspx?articleId=825583&publicationSubCategoryId=63)
By Delon Porcalla (The Philippine Star) Updated July 09, 2012 12:00 AM

MANILA, Philippines - Malacañang gave assurances yesterday that President Aquino’s new executive order on mining, described as a comprehensive policy regulating the industry, will be able to withstand judicial scrutiny.

“We are prepared to defend it. That is usually the case whenever the executive comes out with an executive order or even an AO (administrative order), an MC (memorandum circular), an MO (memorandum order). We’re ready if this is challenged (in court),” deputy presidential spokesperson Abigail Valte said.

Valte told state-run radio dzRB that critics should wait for the government to release the EO, which she described as a product of multi-level consultations with stakeholders.

She said the new mining EO is a “more comprehensive policy” that will do away with recurring concerns over small-scale miners, where government “took into consideration the voices of the stakeholders” concerned.

Valte’s boss, Edwin Lacierda, confirmed Saturday last week that Aquino signed the EO, which aims to generate more revenues for the government and address mining industry and environmental concerns.

Executive Secretary Paquito Ochoa Jr. will release the new mining policy this week.

Lacierda said Environment Secretary Ramon Paje will also hold a press briefing to explain the executive order.

The spokesman stressed that the administration conducted extensive consultations with mining stakeholders before it finalized the new mining policy.

The government crafted the new mining policy that would be beneficial for both the government and mining investors.

With the crafting of the new policy, the Aquino administration hopes to generate more revenues in the face of high demand for metallic resources.

The new EO also aims to balance out concerns on environment protection and economic gains.

Lion’s share

Aquino earlier promised to reduce significantly the 98 percent profit of miners and cut this by as much as 30 points, to as low as 68 percent, and increase the government’s take – by means of taxes – from the measly two percent to 32 percent.

“I think the division of profit is not fair,” Aquino said, adding that the EO will address the issues of all concerned, especially after the series of consultations.

The EO is also expected to list down tourism areas where mining will be banned, or the 78 ecotourism sites. The mining policy guideline also includes provisions on environmental degradation, safety issues, and dislocation of indigenous peoples.

Ochoa said the EO will strike a balance between the interests of the mining industry and the environment because it seeks to harmonize the conflicting national and local laws on mining, especially in terms of approving and handling mining applications.

‘Not the proper solution’

However, Father Edu Gariguez, executive secretary of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines’ (CBCP) National Secretariat for Social Action (NASSA), said the various issues on mining operations in the country could not be totally addressed by a mere executive order.

Gariguez said the passage of Alternative Minerals Management Bill (AMMB) in Congress has become more urgent with President Aquino’s recent signing of the executive order on mining.

“There is a need to push for this AMMB because that EO is not the solution to our problem. The Chamber of Mines rejoicing is already an indicator that this EO actually favors mining companies,” he said in a recent interview.

Noy to certify new mining laws (http://www.philstar.com/Article.aspx?articleId=826201&publicationSubCategoryId=63)
By Aurea Calica and Paolo Romero (The Philippine Star) Updated July 11, 2012 12:00 AM

MANILA, Philippines - President Aquino is ready to certify as urgent any legislation that will effectively amend the Mining Act of 1995 as investors now have a clearer industry roadmap with the signing of Executive Order 79, Malacañang said yesterday.

Environment Secretary Ramon Paje said the Mining Industry Coordinating Council, whose creation was stipulated in the EO, would draft the legislation.

The council will include the Cabinet clusters on climate change adaptation and mitigation as well as economic development. It will be headed by the chairs of the two clusters and shall have the following additional members: secretary of the Department of Justice (DOJ), chairperson of the National Commission on Indigenous Peoples (NCIP) and president of the Union of Local Authorities of the Philippines (ULAP).

“I think we are also considering asking, recommending to the President certifying it as urgent bill,” Paje said. Through EO 79, the government bans mining in protected areas and in tourism sites and holds off issuance of new mining permits until Congress approves an improved revenue sharing scheme.

Paje said he cannot tell how soon Congress can legislate a revenue sharing arrangement between the government and mining companies but “of course, we would (want it) as soon as possible.”

Paje said the EO, which expanded the mining ban to include 78 ecotourism sites and other areas, would allow existing mining explorations to continue.

“Except the fact that we cannot sign new mineral contracts for mining agreements,” he said.

Paje said the Department of Environment and Natural Resources also stopped exploration and issuance of environment compliance certificate.

“We also have stopped the processing of mining feasibility. But now, the EO says all of those can continue except the signing of new agreements,” he said.

“I think what we intend to do is that the MICC will draft already the (bill)… In fact, there is already an ongoing study and draft the provisions then submit it to Congress for their review and approval,” he said.

Presidential Communications Development and Strategic Planning Office Secretary Ricky Carandang said there was positive reception to the mining EO by various stakeholders—environmentalists, the mining industry and local governments.

“With the exception of a few hard line elements, the administration’s reforms in the mining sector have been accepted as a clear direction for mining in the country,” Carandang said.



“As a result of EO 79, mining will be prohibited in certain environmentally sensitive areas, agricultural lands, and areas that have been designated for ecotourism. There will also be areas reserved for small-scale mining. Just as importantly, the government will get a larger share from mining activities and investors now have a clearer roadmap,” he said.

“More work needs to be done by local governments, the national government, Congress, civil society and the industry itself. But with this new directive from President Aquino, the path has been cleared for environmentally responsible and economically equitable mining activities in the country,” Carandang said.

House support

At the House of Representatives, Speaker Feliciano Belmonte Jr. said a legislation on higher mining revenues for the government would certainly be approved by lawmakers.

“We will certainly be supportive of whatever is needed,” Belmonte said when asked about Malacañang’s call for a law that will increase from two percent the excise tax imposed on mining companies.

The Speaker said the House may either pass a new revenue bill or incorporate the increased tax in pending mining bills already being discussed at the committee level.

“If Malacañang wants five to seven percent, then we can discuss this in the committee deliberations, but in our proposal, the royalty for the IP (indigenous people) communities is separate,” Ifugao Rep. Teddy Baguilat Jr., for his part, said.

He said the Alternative Minerals Management Bill (AMMB) pending in the House proposes a 10-percent excise tax and another 10-percent royalty for indigenous people who will be affected by mining operations.

Baguilat said giving indigenous people reasonable share in the mining revenues is also in compliance with the provisions of Republic Act 8371 or the Indigenous People’s Rights Act, which seeks to give just and fair compensation to the communities affected by any development project.

Eastern Samar Rep. Ben Evardone and Zambales Rep. Milagros Magsaysay, in separate statements, warned that the EO would be useless if not strictly implemented.

Magsaysay said the EO “looks good on paper but the true challenge will be in its implementation.”

“EO 79 basically seeks to increase government revenue from mining as well as protect agricultural lands and ecotourism areas from irresponsible mining operations. This also includes a review on existing mining agreements entered into by the government, large scale and small scale,” she said.

“There is really no problem with the EO, and the bigger issue would be in its implementation. The government must be firm in its crackdown on illegal mining operations, and set standards especially for small-scale mining which has caused countless accidents in the past couple of years because of unsafe practices,” she added.

Magsaysay said Malacañang should not expect the issuance of the EO “to be like a magic wand which will make all existing problems go away.”

“This will not happen overnight. This needs long-term commitment or else this endeavor will not bear any fruit. There is nothing wrong with mining as an industry so long as it is done in moderation and in accordance to the needs of development,” she said.

Evardone said the EO will transform the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) “into a ‘super department’ because of its awesome powers to enforce not only the Local Government Code, and laws on peace and order, but also environment laws.”

“Interior Secretary Jesse Robredo should form task forces in every province whose members are not beholden to any governor or mayor to ensure the success of EO 79,” Evardone said.

He said the drive to stop illegal mining is like the campaign against illegal gambling.

“The EO is meaningless if the DILG fails to implement this sound policy on mining. This is a radical move to preserve the environment,” Evardone said.

Laguna Rep. Danilo Fernandez, chairman of the House committee on ecology, lauded the EO as “the right approach to address the problem of climate change as well as the deteriorating environment.”

He said a five percent charge is not enough especially if pitted against the rates in other countries like Australia, Brazil, Canada, and Chile where royalties can reach as high as 18 percent.

“The government should have charged higher fees, we can fight it out in the committee hearings. I think the taxes are a small price to pay for the destruction these mining firms do to our environment,” Fernandez said.

Oriental Mindoro Gov. Alfonso Umali, president of the League of Provinces of the Philippines, said the EO is “good for all stakeholders” since it proposes to develop the Philippines’ mineral resources with strong safeguards on environmental protection and social acceptability.

“We can develop the mining industry hand in hand with environmental protection and preservation,” Umali said.

“All stakeholders stand to benefit from this policy direction,” he said, stressing the importance of social responsibility and acceptability in localities where mining activities are permitted.

Umali cited “highly commendable” provisions in the EO, including Section 11 or measures aimed at improving and regulating small-scale mining activities, and Section 12 that seeks consistency of local ordinances with the Constitution and national laws.

He also hailed two other provisions, namely Section 13 creating a one-stop shop for mining applications and procedures, and Section 14 improving transparency in the mineral industry.

“The creation of the MICC is most welcome,” Umali said, adding that the council should include individuals with technical expertise and in-depth understanding of mining operations.

Bigger role

In Albay, Gov. Joey Salceda said the new EO recognizes the role of local government units in ensuring responsible mining.

“Admittedly, the final shape and complexion of the mining EO has taken a very constructive approach towards LGU role and a weighty bias towards environmental protection and inter-generational responsibility in resource management,” Salceda said in an e-mail to The STAR Monday.

“We must concede the mighty exertion of Presidential Adviser for Environmental Concerns Neric Acosta, Climate Change Commission Bebeth Gozon and Environment Secretary Ramon Paje to take into account the concerns of local chief executives in drafting the EO but short of amending mining laws,” he said.

“But the structural limits imposed by legislation especially on RA 7492, otherwise known as the Mining Law of the Philippines preempt the kind of reforms that could justify in changing our fundamental opposition to mining in the current socio-political context,” Salceda added.

Meanwhile in Bacolod City, Negros Occidental Gov. Alfredo Marañon Jr. said he is in favor of the operations of large-scale mining companies in this province, but not of small-scale “fly-by-night” firms.

Marañon said he welcomes the activities of large mining firms like Maricalum Mining Corp. and Philex Mining Corp. in Sipalay City, because they are a boost to the local economy.

Noy to certify new mining laws (http://www.philstar.com/Article.aspx?articleId=826201&publicationSubCategoryId=63)
By Aurea Calica and Paolo Romero (The Philippine Star) Updated July 11, 2012 12:00 AM

MANILA, Philippines - President Aquino is ready to certify as urgent any legislation that will effectively amend the Mining Act of 1995 as investors now have a clearer industry roadmap with the signing of Executive Order 79, Malacañang said yesterday.

Environment Secretary Ramon Paje said the Mining Industry Coordinating Council, whose creation was stipulated in the EO, would draft the legislation.

The council will include the Cabinet clusters on climate change adaptation and mitigation as well as economic development. It will be headed by the chairs of the two clusters and shall have the following additional members: secretary of the Department of Justice (DOJ), chairperson of the National Commission on Indigenous Peoples (NCIP) and president of the Union of Local Authorities of the Philippines (ULAP).

“I think we are also considering asking, recommending to the President certifying it as urgent bill,” Paje said. Through EO 79, the government bans mining in protected areas and in tourism sites and holds off issuance of new mining permits until Congress approves an improved revenue sharing scheme.

Paje said he cannot tell how soon Congress can legislate a revenue sharing arrangement between the government and mining companies but “of course, we would (want it) as soon as possible.”

Paje said the EO, which expanded the mining ban to include 78 ecotourism sites and other areas, would allow existing mining explorations to continue.

“Except the fact that we cannot sign new mineral contracts for mining agreements,” he said.

Paje said the Department of Environment and Natural Resources also stopped exploration and issuance of environment compliance certificate.

“We also have stopped the processing of mining feasibility. But now, the EO says all of those can continue except the signing of new agreements,” he said.

“I think what we intend to do is that the MICC will draft already the (bill)… In fact, there is already an ongoing study and draft the provisions then submit it to Congress for their review and approval,” he said.

Presidential Communications Development and Strategic Planning Office Secretary Ricky Carandang said there was positive reception to the mining EO by various stakeholders—environmentalists, the mining industry and local governments.

“With the exception of a few hard line elements, the administration’s reforms in the mining sector have been accepted as a clear direction for mining in the country,” Carandang said.



“As a result of EO 79, mining will be prohibited in certain environmentally sensitive areas, agricultural lands, and areas that have been designated for ecotourism. There will also be areas reserved for small-scale mining. Just as importantly, the government will get a larger share from mining activities and investors now have a clearer roadmap,” he said.

“More work needs to be done by local governments, the national government, Congress, civil society and the industry itself. But with this new directive from President Aquino, the path has been cleared for environmentally responsible and economically equitable mining activities in the country,” Carandang said.

House support

At the House of Representatives, Speaker Feliciano Belmonte Jr. said a legislation on higher mining revenues for the government would certainly be approved by lawmakers.

“We will certainly be supportive of whatever is needed,” Belmonte said when asked about Malacañang’s call for a law that will increase from two percent the excise tax imposed on mining companies.

The Speaker said the House may either pass a new revenue bill or incorporate the increased tax in pending mining bills already being discussed at the committee level.

“If Malacañang wants five to seven percent, then we can discuss this in the committee deliberations, but in our proposal, the royalty for the IP (indigenous people) communities is separate,” Ifugao Rep. Teddy Baguilat Jr., for his part, said.

He said the Alternative Minerals Management Bill (AMMB) pending in the House proposes a 10-percent excise tax and another 10-percent royalty for indigenous people who will be affected by mining operations.

Baguilat said giving indigenous people reasonable share in the mining revenues is also in compliance with the provisions of Republic Act 8371 or the Indigenous People’s Rights Act, which seeks to give just and fair compensation to the communities affected by any development project.

Eastern Samar Rep. Ben Evardone and Zambales Rep. Milagros Magsaysay, in separate statements, warned that the EO would be useless if not strictly implemented.

Magsaysay said the EO “looks good on paper but the true challenge will be in its implementation.”

“EO 79 basically seeks to increase government revenue from mining as well as protect agricultural lands and ecotourism areas from irresponsible mining operations. This also includes a review on existing mining agreements entered into by the government, large scale and small scale,” she said.

“There is really no problem with the EO, and the bigger issue would be in its implementation. The government must be firm in its crackdown on illegal mining operations, and set standards especially for small-scale mining which has caused countless accidents in the past couple of years because of unsafe practices,” she added.

Magsaysay said Malacañang should not expect the issuance of the EO “to be like a magic wand which will make all existing problems go away.”

“This will not happen overnight. This needs long-term commitment or else this endeavor will not bear any fruit. There is nothing wrong with mining as an industry so long as it is done in moderation and in accordance to the needs of development,” she said.

Evardone said the EO will transform the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) “into a ‘super department’ because of its awesome powers to enforce not only the Local Government Code, and laws on peace and order, but also environment laws.”

“Interior Secretary Jesse Robredo should form task forces in every province whose members are not beholden to any governor or mayor to ensure the success of EO 79,” Evardone said.

He said the drive to stop illegal mining is like the campaign against illegal gambling.

“The EO is meaningless if the DILG fails to implement this sound policy on mining. This is a radical move to preserve the environment,” Evardone said.

Laguna Rep. Danilo Fernandez, chairman of the House committee on ecology, lauded the EO as “the right approach to address the problem of climate change as well as the deteriorating environment.”

He said a five percent charge is not enough especially if pitted against the rates in other countries like Australia, Brazil, Canada, and Chile where royalties can reach as high as 18 percent.

“The government should have charged higher fees, we can fight it out in the committee hearings. I think the taxes are a small price to pay for the destruction these mining firms do to our environment,” Fernandez said.

Oriental Mindoro Gov. Alfonso Umali, president of the League of Provinces of the Philippines, said the EO is “good for all stakeholders” since it proposes to develop the Philippines’ mineral resources with strong safeguards on environmental protection and social acceptability.

“We can develop the mining industry hand in hand with environmental protection and preservation,” Umali said.

“All stakeholders stand to benefit from this policy direction,” he said, stressing the importance of social responsibility and acceptability in localities where mining activities are permitted.

Umali cited “highly commendable” provisions in the EO, including Section 11 or measures aimed at improving and regulating small-scale mining activities, and Section 12 that seeks consistency of local ordinances with the Constitution and national laws.

He also hailed two other provisions, namely Section 13 creating a one-stop shop for mining applications and procedures, and Section 14 improving transparency in the mineral industry.

“The creation of the MICC is most welcome,” Umali said, adding that the council should include individuals with technical expertise and in-depth understanding of mining operations.

Bigger role

In Albay, Gov. Joey Salceda said the new EO recognizes the role of local government units in ensuring responsible mining.

“Admittedly, the final shape and complexion of the mining EO has taken a very constructive approach towards LGU role and a weighty bias towards environmental protection and inter-generational responsibility in resource management,” Salceda said in an e-mail to The STAR Monday.

“We must concede the mighty exertion of Presidential Adviser for Environmental Concerns Neric Acosta, Climate Change Commission Bebeth Gozon and Environment Secretary Ramon Paje to take into account the concerns of local chief executives in drafting the EO but short of amending mining laws,” he said.

“But the structural limits imposed by legislation especially on RA 7492, otherwise known as the Mining Law of the Philippines preempt the kind of reforms that could justify in changing our fundamental opposition to mining in the current socio-political context,” Salceda added.

Meanwhile in Bacolod City, Negros Occidental Gov. Alfredo Marañon Jr. said he is in favor of the operations of large-scale mining companies in this province, but not of small-scale “fly-by-night” firms.

Marañon said he welcomes the activities of large mining firms like Maricalum Mining Corp. and Philex Mining Corp. in Sipalay City, because they are a boost to the local economy.

Philippines urged to stop killings of mining foes (http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/230775/philippines-urged-to-stop-killings-of-mining-foes)
Agence France-Presse
12:27 pm | Wednesday, July 18th, 2012

MANILA – President Benigno Aquino should move to stop the killings of anti-mining activists as the Philippines pushes to revitalize the mining sector, a global rights body has said.

The New York-based Human Rights Watch (HRW) said it had documented three cases since October last year of three anti-mining and environmental activists allegedly killed by paramilitary forces who may have links to the military.

The victims had opposed mining activities that could displace tribal communities as well as destroy their communities, it said in a statement Tuesday.

“President (Benigno) Aquino has enacted decrees to encourage mining investment in the
Philippines but has done little to stop attacks on environmental advocates,” said HRW deputy director for Asia, Elaine Pearson.

“He should recognize that respecting human rights is crucial for economic development,” she said in the statement.

Aquino issued a new mining policy early this month aimed at boosting revenues from mining and increasing environmental safeguards.

But Pearson said the policy was silent on the issue of alleged rights abuses by paramilitary forces deployed by the military to protect mining companies from attacks mostly by communist guerrillas.

Aquino spokesman Ricky Carandang said the government did not tolerate attacks against environmentalists or other advocacy groups.

He acknowledged previous cases of activists killed, but stressed investigations were being carried out to get those behind the attacks.

“We are doing what we can, and we do recognize the need for these cases to be resolved much more quickly than they are being resolved,” he told AFP.

He said linking the deaths to the military was “a sweeping allegation” that could further incite tensions.

In October, Italian activist priest Fausto Tentorio was shot and killed by a gunman while inside his parish compound in the town of Arakan in the southern island of Mindanao.

Four suspects had been identified from a local paramilitary group, though no one has been arrested.

Two other activists were killed in March and May, while in January last year, an environmentalist broadcaster was gunned down in the western island of Palawan for his advocacy.

A former governor who is alleged to have planned the journalist’s murder is in hiding after a court ordered his arrest.

http://www.businessweek.com/news/2012-07-18/dawn-murder-shows-barriers-to-mindanao-riches-southeast-asia#p1

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7146/6761266221_d258cf681e_z.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/74082557@N00/6761266221/)
Larry Price-Philippines Gold Mines (http://www.flickr.com/photos/74082557@N00/6761266221/) by getolympus (http://www.flickr.com/people/74082557@N00/), on Flickr

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Larry Price-Philippines Gold Mines (http://www.flickr.com/photos/74082557@N00/6761266081/) by getolympus (http://www.flickr.com/people/74082557@N00/), on Flickr

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Larry Price-Philippines Gold Mines (http://www.flickr.com/photos/74082557@N00/6761266397/) by getolympus (http://www.flickr.com/people/74082557@N00/), on Flickr

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Larry Price-Philippines Gold Mines (http://www.flickr.com/photos/74082557@N00/6761266715/) by getolympus (http://www.flickr.com/people/74082557@N00/), on Flickr

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7030/6761265447_1dba849f20_z.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/74082557@N00/6761265447/)
Larry Price-Philippines Gold Mines (http://www.flickr.com/photos/74082557@N00/6761265447/) by getolympus (http://www.flickr.com/people/74082557@N00/), on Flickr

this is so sad, greedy people! not good for our country.

i dont get it, you mine the gold process it turn it into gold bars the put in it the bank, lock it in the dungeon. so stupid! 90% percent of the gold bars in the world just stocks in the bank.

Hi Meron ba dito working sa Mining? Cheers

Hi Meron ba dito working sa Mining? Cheers

Mining issues are also being discussed in surigao del norte thread.you mAy want to visit.

Gov’t suspends miner’s operations in Surigao
5 other companies in the area warned

By: Riza T. Olchondra
Philippine Daily Inquirer
12:59 am | Monday, July 23rd, 2012


The Mines and Geosciences Bureau (MGB) said it had suspended the mining operations of Shenzou Mining Group Corp. in Claver, Surigao del Norte, for causing extensive siltation of coastal areas.

MGB issued the suspension order based on the findings of a multisectoral team led by the Department of Environment and Natural Resources that the company had failed to adequately address the siltation incidents in its area and even made the situation worse by building a “settling pond” on the sea—a malpractice in mining. A settling pond is a structure where silt-laden water is impounded temporarily to allow silt materials to settle down and for water to overflow silt-free.

Prior to the issuance of the suspension order, MGB said it had written Shenzou and five other mining companies in the area about the siltation problem and required them to show cause why their operations should not be suspended. The other firms were Adnama Mining Resources Inc., Platinum Group Metals Corp., C.T.P. Construction and Mining Corp., Sumitomo-led Taganito HPAL Nickel Corp. and Taganito Mining Corp.

All, except Shenzhou, had responded and reported how they were addressing the problem.

Taganito HPAL Nickel Corp. and TMC said they were implementing “several control measures” to address siltation in their areas in Claver, Surigao del Norte.

Taganito HPAL is constructing a processing plant beside the area where TMC operates a nickel mine.

MGB Director Leo L. Jasareno said his office expected further actions and gave the five companies 60 days from the receipt of MGB’s latest letter to “fully address” siltation in their area, subject to validation by the multisectoral team led by the Department of Environment and Natural Resources.

Taganito HPAL Nickel Corp., a subsidiary of Sumitomo Metal Mining Co., Ltd. (SMM), is building a nickel processing plant using High Pressure Acid Leach or HPAL technology.

TMC is 65 percent owned by Nickel Asia Corp., the local partner in the Taganito HPAL project.

The $1.3-billion Taganito HPAL plant being built in Surigao del Norte was designed to produce nickel/cobalt mixed sulfide. The initial capacity of mixed sulfide production at Taganito would be 30,000 tons per year.

Official List Of Mining Companies In Caraga For 2012 Inspection


1. Shenzhou Mining Group Corp., Cagdianao, Claver, Surigao del Norte

2. Wallaby Corp./Rugby Mining Limited, Villa Virginia, Brgy. Rizal, Surigao City

3. VTP Construction and Mining Corp., Adlay, Carrascal, Surigao del Sur

4. Marc Ventures Mining & Dev’t. Corp., Cantilan, Surigao del Sur

5. Platinum Group Metals Corp., Cagdianao, Claver, Surigao del Norte

6. PACEMPHIL, Km 10, Surigao City

7. Riofil-ERQ Construction, Taganito, Claver, Surigao del Norte

8. Shuley Mine Incorporated, Nonoc Island, Surigao Del Norte

9. SR Metals Incorporated, Brgy. La Fraternidad, Agusan del Norte

10. Cagdianao Mining Corporation, 03825 Narciso St., Surigao del Norte

11. SBF Drilling Resources Phil. Corp., Bayugan-3, Rosario, Agusan del Sur

12. Pacific Cement Philippines Inc., Km. 10, Brgy. Quezon, Surigao City

13. Philsaga Mining Corporation, Bayugan 3, Rosario, Agusan del Sur

14. Carrascal Nickel Corporation, Sitio Gango, Brgy. Bon-ot, SDS

15. 4K/PGMC Cagdianao Nickel Project, Kinalablaban, Cagdianao, Claver, SDN

16. Cagdianao Mining Corporation, 03825 Narciso St., Surigao del Norte

17. AAM-Phil Natural Resource Exploration & Dev't. Corp, Panamaon, Loreto, Dinagat Island

18. Oriental Synergy Mining Corp., Esperanzo, Loreto, Dinagat Island

19. FS Borja Mining & Trading Corporation/OVMPC, Calderon St., Surigao City

20. MRL Gold Phils., Inc., Guingona, Cabaluna Apt, Butuan City

21. R.L. Mining, Talisay, Nonoc Island, Surigao City

22. Pacific Nickel Philippines, Inc., Brgy. Talisay, Nonoc Island, Surigao City

23. 4K Development Corporation-PGMC-CNP, Kinalablaban, Cagdianao, Claver, SDN

24. Taganito Mining Corporation, Brgy. Taganito, Claver, SDN

25. KROMINCO, Inc., Bgry. Santiago, Loreto, Dinagat Island

26. Nickelbase Inc., Nonoc Island, Surigao del Norte

27. FSBMTC, Calderon St., Vina Corito, Surigao City

28. CTP Construction and Mining Corporation, Brgy. Adlay, Carrascal, Surigao del Sur

29. THPAL, Taganito, Claver, Surigao del Norte

30. Century Peak Corporation, Sitio Mahayag, Panamaon Loreto, Dinagat Islands

31. Manila Mining Corporation, Magsaysay, Placer, SDN

32. Frasec Ventures Corporation, 6th Flr. CIFC Tower, Cebu City

33. NAC – CMC, Narciso St., Surigao City

34. VTP Construction and Mining Corporation, Adlay, Carrascal, Surigao del Sur

35. CTB Engineering Construction, 04232 Narciso St., Surigao City

mining in CLAVER, SURIGAO DEL NORTE

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surigao - mining capital

npa! attack! :rofl: jk

MINING IN SURIGAO
http://www.google.com.ph/imgres?q=surigao&start=276&um=1&hl=fil&biw=1024&bih=598&tbm=isch&tbnid=CPPfkQEhSBifWM:&imgrefurl=http://www.mindoro.com/s/Surigao_MapsArchive.asp%3FReportID%3D197071%26_Title%3DSurigao-Map-November-2005&docid=_9kH_sgToCqRHM&imgurl=http://www.mindoro.com/i/maps/surigao/2005-11-10_Surigao.jpg&w=900&h=694&ei=OicRUOKZOrHtiQKOyoDACQ&zoom=1&iact=hc&vpx=727&vpy=145&dur=1872&hovh=197&hovw=256&tx=133&ty=99&sig=110587418133972473151&page=15&tbnh=134&tbnw=173&ndsp=20&ved=1t:429,r:14,s:276,i:310

http://www.mindoro.com/i/maps/surigao/2005-11-10_Surigao.jpg

http://www.interaksyon.com/assets/images/articles/interphoto_1342435951.jpg

DOF secures TRO against Surigao City auction of Philnico assets
By: Katrina Mennen A. Valdez, InterAksyon.com
July 16, 2012 5:48 PM

MANILA - The Department of Finance has secured a temporary restraining order against the local government of Surigao City on its scheduled auction of equipment and machinery situated in Nonoc Island.

In a statement, the DOF on Monday said the Court of Appeals issued a TRO against the Surigao City government on July 13, preventing the local government unit from pursuing the auction for 20 days.

The Appellate Court also ordered Surigao City to "show cause" why a writ of preliminary injunction should not be issued against it.

The DOF said the equipment of Philnico Industrial Corp. have become the national government's property since 1999, and thus cannot be sold to satisfy the company's tax deficiency.

“Despite such classification, the city government has persisted in assessing real property taxes,” the DOF said.

Said properties have been subject to litigation, with the Surigao City local government continuing to assess real property taxes against the company for years 2000 to 2010.

The local government initially scheduled the auction of the assets on September 19, 2011 but was stopped by the DOF following its application for petition for prohibition was granted.

“Despite the pendency of the case, the city government, through city treasurer Sarah Yamit, had again scheduled an auction sale on 16 July 2012,” the DOF said.

Philnico turned over the said equipment to the national government in 1999. The said equipment formed part of the $263.8 million share sale transaction between the two parties in 1996. Of the total amount, only $1.25 million has so far been paid to government. http://www.interaksyon.com

Greenstone Resources makes 1st shipment of gold
By Louella D. Desiderio (The Philippine Star) Updated May 12, 2012 12:00 AM

MANILA, Philippines - Miner Greenstone Resources Corp. has completed its first shipment of gold from the Siana gold mine in the province oSurigao del Norte.

Mines and Geosciences Bureau director Leo Jasareno said in a text message to reporters that the miner’s first shipment consisted of gold and silver dore bars of 421.7 ounces of gold and 4,380.5 ounces of silver to Switzerland.

“The value of the first shipment is $829,083.37,” he said.

The shipped dore bars, he said, were produced from the Siana gold project in Mainit in Surigao del Norte.

Production in the site involves an open-pit operation followed by an underground mine, with the ore treated through a modern gravity and carbon-in-leach plant to produce gold dore.

Given the production of Greenstone Resources, Jasareno said the country now has a total of 32 operating metallic mines.

Greenstone Resources manages the operations at the Siana gold project.

Red 5 Ltd. of Australia holds a 90-percent beneficial interest in the project through Greenstone Resources.

The Siana gold project is designed to produce a minimum of 849,000 ounces of gold at a cash cost of $400 per ounce over a 10-year life.

Red 5 said on its website that extensions to the mine life of the Siana gold project are currently under review.

eXNwRlPPMzo&feature=player_embedded

I cannot imagine how ugly Lake Mainit would become if the areas around it will be mined. This Caraga gem straddling between Surigao Norte and Agusan Norte is groomed for eco tourism, fishery, irrigation and hydro power....all of it will be gone with mining...turning the lake into a large bowl of sikwate:ohno:

MINING IN SURIGAO
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http://www.mindoro.com/i/maps/surigao/2005-11-10_Surigao.jpg

Sooner or later that area will become kazakstan na mapatay ang environment tsk tsk tsk

The government should have an action to stop this kind of activity. nakakasira ng imahe ng kalikasan. parang chocolate mountain na ang itsura. :bash:

The government should have an action to stop this kind of activity. nakakasira ng imahe ng kalikasan. parang chocolate mountain na ang itsura. :bash:

yung shenzou mining from china ang hindi nagcomply with regards to environmental protection thats why their mining operation has be stopped.

is there any study finding or investigating the encroachment of silt under the Surigao Straight?

I cannot imagine the severe damage mining will have on the medium term on the Fishery sector....I think surigao supplies roughly 75 to 80 per cent of fish in the region ( not to mention the fish products for air shipment to manila and cebu restos ). Our suki in Langihan knows this......unsaon nalang ang kinilaw na malasugi, maya maya and mol mol....

MINING IN SURIGAO
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http://www.mindoro.com/i/maps/surigao/2005-11-10_Surigao.jpg

goodbye tourist spot. :ohno:

Maayo lang unta ug dako ang kita nya murag wa man feel ang mining kabahin sa develpment sa lugar mao rman ghapon. Daut lng samot ang environment... Gud bye lake mainit jud... Tsk tsk tsk... Why not develop og insakto ang tourist spot.... Hakog rag bahandi ang uban tao nga mga pro mining.

Maayo lang unta ug dako ang kita nya murag wa man feel ang mining kabahin sa develpment sa lugar mao rman ghapon. Daut lng samot ang environment... Gud bye lake mainit jud... Tsk tsk tsk... Why not develop og insakto ang tourist spot.... Hakog rag bahandi ang uban tao nga mga pro mining.

mao lage na nyor, if our legislators ug president could come up with a very fair deal with these mining firms all will be benefited. Hope maplantsa na ni..:cheers:

with the lake mainit issue, nobody wanted it be destroyed..as of now under operation na an greenstone mining sa ila villager sa municipality sa Tubod..I just do hope people from the DENR and LGUs should be strictly implementing environmental laws in that areas.

goodbye tourist spot. :ohno:

well, they have what they call Rehabilitation Program. Pero wala pa rin degraded na ang Biodiversity ng Environment in Mine sites.

http://s14.postimage.org/el8txjlq9/The_Philippine_Minerals_Industry_At_AGlance.jpg (http://postimage.org/)

Wala gyud nakabenefit ang Mga Mining Areas... Wala nakapatukod ug Commercial Buildings or Industrial Buildings. Mga Mining Buildings ray natukod... WTF! Sayangan gyud ko sa Surigao del Norte na ilang pagkatourist spot kung muanam ug kadako ang Maupaw, wala pa lang na muabot pero muabotay pa... Alangan naman ug maghulat pata na mahitabo na.., mabalhin gyud sa Surigao del Sur ang Tourist Spots white beaches pud rba didto.... :( :( :(

Mt. Diwalwal Gold Mining Area
Moncayo, Compostela Valley
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Wala gyud nakabenefit ang Mga Mining Areas... Wala nakapatukod ug Commercial Buildings or Industrial Buildings. Mga Mining Buildings ray natukod... WTF! Sayangan gyud ko sa Surigao del Norte na ilang pagkatourist spot kung muanam ug kadako ang Maupaw, wala pa lang na muabot pero muabotay pa... Alangan naman ug maghulat pata na mahitabo na.., mabalhin gyud sa Surigao del Sur ang Tourist Spots white beaches pud rba didto.... :( :( :(

FYI cantilan and carrascal are part of surigao mineral prospects!! they are even rich with minerals! WTF! :nuts::lol: igno jud ka coffeeworld taga caraga man unta ka..

carrascal is a municipality beside claver, and share the rich iron deposit as that of claver.ADLAY mining is in carrascal and there is a nickel mine also at cantilan, SDS.

Miner eyes resumption of work

SURIGAO CITY -- ShenZhou Mining Group Corp., a Chinese miner, plans to ask the government to lift an ordered suspension of its operations after it cleans up 50% of a silt-laden area, an official said.


“We will probably request for a resumption of operation once we have complied with 50% of rehabilitation,” Jacqueline F. De Leon, ShenZhou Mining’s corporate secretary said.

Ms. De Leon also added only a few employees would be retained while the company is supended although affected workers would be re-hired once mining activities resume. The mining firm could not yet implement its environmental program due to several issues that it had to address, Ms. De Leon said, without elaborating.

The Caraga office of the Environment department had earlier served a suspension order to ShenZhou Mining for reportedly causing extensive siltation in the coastal areas of Claver, Surigao del Norte.

Meanwhile, other mining companies in the province were given six months to comply with a government order to clean the shorelines of Claver Bay from heavy siltation.

In March this year, during a congressional hearing held in Claver, Taganito Mining Corp. manager Jose B. Anievas had said companies have undertaken a “holistic approach” to the problem. -- VLA

Mt. Diwalwal Gold Mining Area
Moncayo, Compostela Valley
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thanx for posting MINDAVAO.welcome to the thread.:)

British firm tightens SMI security

GENERAL SANTOS CITY (MindaNews/27 July) –A British security consulting firm was recently reported to be scouting for an international security expert specializing in securing mining sites with added qualification of “expertise in possible armed response” following successive violent incidents at the Tampakan copper and gold project of Sagittarius Mines Inc (SMI) in South Cotabato and surrounding areas where the latter is operating.
Global Securities Solutions, Inc. (G4S) posted early this year a job opening for a top security expert “to provide service to a client in the mining industry in the area of overseeing and developing industrial security in General Santos City Mindanao, Philippines.”
G4S is referring to client SMI whose listed local security contractor is Catena Security Inc, the Philippine partner of the UK-based international security provider.
Among the job description listed by G4S is “to deliver field security services…(including) but are not restricted to Guarding, Armed Response, VIP Escort and security technology services.”
It also required the job applicant to “deliver standardized outcomes for routine operations and planned events and skills to escalate and control unplanned events.”
The application for the job closed in May 19 this year.
SMI has been the subject of armed attacks from the communist-led New People’s Army and a group of indigenous tribe belonging to a Blaan community who are opposed to its planned commercial operations in 2016.
On June 20 this year, a retired police colonel hired by SMI as its security consultant was killed along with a policeman guard in an ambush allegedly staged by a Blaan armed band led by tribal leader Daguil Capion in Kimlawis village in Kiblawan, Davao del Sur.
Capion has been opposing the encroachment of SMI into their ancestral lands.
Last year, SMI offsite land acquisition officer Cris Bual was gunned down while jogging near his home in Central Park village in Davao City.
On New Year’s Day in 2008, some 80 fully armed NPA guerillas raided the main base camp of SMI in Tampakan and abducted a village official whom they later executed.
G4S took over as security consultant of SMI from an Australian security company following the attack.
The following year, the same NPA rebel band also attacked the Tampakan police station whose unit the rebels claimed is providing security to SMI.


Last year, three drill contractors of SMI were also killed in an ambush also believed instigated by Capion’s group.
In all these incidents, SMI was forced to temporarily suspend operations only to resume them later when violence subsided.
In March 2009, anti-mining activist Eliezer ‘Boy’ Billanes was gunned down minutes after attending a dialogue with local government officials and military personnel after complaining of harassment from suspected government forces.
His death remains unsolved.
SMI is facing stiff opposition from the local Catholic Church as well as various environment groups for its planned mining operations.
Bishop Dinulado Gutierrez of the Diocese of Marbel has been repeatedly warning of an escalation of violence in the mining site if SMI is allowed to operate.
SMI was recently denied an environmental compliance certificate by the Environmental Management Bureau of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources on account of an existing provincial environment code, which banned open pit mining in South Cotabato.
But SMI said it will continue to explore all avenues to pursue its mining operations. (Edwin G. Espejo/Contributor)

Gov’t agencies, stakeholders in Caraga Region to ink agreement promoting local seafarers’ welfare
By Robert E. Roperos

Sunday 29th of July 2012 TweetFacebookYahooEmailShareThis BUTUAN CITY, July 29 (PIA) -- Government agencies and stakeholders in Caraga Region are set to sign a memorandum of agreement (MOA) to promote the welfare of the local seafarers.

In a statement, Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE)-Caraga Regional Director Ofelia Domingo said the activity will be presented and consequently signed during the Forum on the Working Conditions of Filipino Seafarers in the Domestic Shipping Industry on Monday, July 30, 2012.

Dir. Domingo also said the MOA will showcase the concerted effort of the various agencies and private companies including local organizations on the implementation, monitoring and regulation of pertinent laws on the local seafarers.

The region’s labor chief added this developed after the Labor and Employment Plan 2011-2016 has identified the Maritime Labour Convention 2006 as one of the priorities for ratification as it is a landmark international convention that would promote the rights of millions of Filipino workers.

Under the agreement, DOLE-Caraga shall promote and enforce the rights of the local seafarers in accordance to the provisions of the Labor Code of the Philippines, strictly implement its visitorial powers through a joint inspection with other agencies of the government concerned with the domestic shipping lines, encourage formation of harbor or seafarers organization that would promote the well-being of local or domestic seafarers, as well as extend other assistance that are deemed necessary.

For the part of the Maritime Industry Authority (MARINA), they are tasked to include in its regulation and monitoring the compliance of domestic shipping lines to wage standardization and occupational safety and health, spearhead joint inspection of the domestic fleet, as well as extend other assistance.

The Philippine Ports Authority (PPA) shall also promote stringent implementation of the health and fitness requirements of the local seafarers, conduct joint inspection with other agencies of the government, as well as extend other necessary assistance.

Further, the Philippine Coast Guard (PCG) shall ensure the safety and security of the local seafarers plying along the coast of the Philippine sea against piracy and effectively enforce maritime laws on smuggling, illegal fishing, drug trafficking, among others.

The Philippine Information Agency (PIA), on the other hand, shall include in the agency’s annual communications plan the tri-media information dissemination campaign of the rights, privileges and concerns of local seafarers including but not limited to wage standardization and occupational safety and health in the domestic shipping lines.

Also, the local government of Surigao City shall initiate, conduct and sponsor orientations and/or seminars on the minimum requirements of the Labor Code as well as the Occupational Safety and Health Standards to domestic chipping companies, regularly call for a joint inspection to domestic shipping lines on compliance to labor, safety and health and other regulatory requirements relative to the shipping industry.

Meanwhile, the provincial government of Surigao del Norte shall encourage all government entities including local government units – cities, municipalities within the province to initiate, conduct and sponsor orientations and seminars on the minimum requirements of the Labor Code as well as the Occupational Safety and Health Standards to domestic shipping companies, regularly call for a joint inspection to domestic shipping lines on compliance to labor, safety and health and other regulatory requirements relative to the shipping industry.

Mining companies such as the Chamber of Mines-Caraga, shall sponsor orientations and seminars on the minimum requirements of the Labor Code and the Occupational Safety and Health Standards to the partner and/or employed domestic shipping lines of the mining companies.

Also, the Taganito Mining Corporation, Pacific Nickel Philippines Inc., and Cagdianao Mining Corporation, shall make it their company policy to drop from their rolls of employees and/or partners those domestic shipping lines that are not cognizant of the minimum requirements of the Labor Code and Occupational Safety and Health Standards.

On the other hand, the Surigao Motorboat Operators Association (SMOA) shall champion the rights of the local seafarers and strictly abide with the provisions of the Labor Code and the Occupational Safety and Health Standards. (RER – PIA-Caraga)

FYI cantilan and carrascal are part of surigao mineral prospects!! they are even rich with minerals! WTF! :nuts::lol: igno jud ka coffeeworld taga caraga man unta ka..

carrascal is a municipality beside claver, and share the rich iron deposit as that of claver.ADLAY mining is in carrascal and there is a nickel mine also at cantilan, SDS.
yes, Pero Dako ba na part sa SDS ang na Mining?
Ngano diay kung taga caraga ko.. Dle diay pwede mahim0ng Anti-mining? Nagtoo pud ka sa tanang taw sa Caraga proud sa Mining? Sus! Mining company ray nabulahan... For $1Bln. Investement, nakapatukod ba sila na makapaimprove sa Lugar? Wala! Kundi ila rang Extractor ang natukod...kung ang Japan man gani nahimong 3rd Largest economy in the World without Minerals, philippines na n0on na Dato sa Minerals pero wala me dato... Mas angay pang ipaclose ng mining company... Destruction ray nadawat nato... Mining company ray nidato... Naa pay Currupt... Hahay... Mao ng Dili gyud ko ma proud anang Income sa Mining... "Caraga¡¯s impressive growth was fuelled by the 9.7-percent expansion of its Service sector and the rebound of its Agriculture sector to a growth of 3.4 percent in 2011 from a decline of 9.6 percent in 2010."

.
And where is the Mining Growth? :D :D :D WTF! Mas nilamang pang Agricultural na mas barato pa sa Minerals....

Caraga seen as emerging mining capital in Asia

Posted by Surigaonon Ako on 8:32 AM in Business Mirror, Caraga, DTI, Mining | 0 comments
The Caraga region is now being viewed as the emerging “mining capital” in Asia with an increasing number of foreign and domestic investors pouring capital into the local mineral industry, a ranking official of the region’s Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) here said.

Caraga’s Trade and Industry regional director Brielgo O. Pagaran said the region has already been acknowledged as Asia’s emerging mining capital. He said at least 41 mineral production and sharing agreements (MPSAs) are now operating in the provinces of Surigao del Sur, Surigao del Norte, Agusan del Norte and Agusan del Sur including Dinagat Islands.

Pagaran said the region, having rich mineral deposits, has attracted many new investors. He added that at least 71 applications for production sharing agreement have already been approved with 247,916.59 hectares, while exploration permits (EP) also reaches to 17 with 25,147.56 hectares.

Earlier, the Board of Investments has reportedly approved the grant of incentives to Marcventures Mining and Development Corp. (MMDC)’s P474-million nickel-mining project in Cantilan, Surigao del Sur. The MMDC’s nickel ore-mining project has capacities of up to 800,000 wet metric tons.

MMDC’s nickel ore-mining project is expected to be operational starting this month and will employ around 215 people.

Sources said the Sumitomo Co. and Zamora Group mining investments are also expected to invest $1.2 billion in Surigao del Norte.

At present, Caraga region hosted at least 62 mining firms already engaged in mining exploration covering some 103,643.25 hectares, or 55.29 percent, of the entire mining permits approved in Mindanao.

Records at the Mines and Geosciences Bureau regional office, however, show that around 80 MPSAs,124 EP applications and five financial and technical assistance agreements are pending approval. 

Caraga, which is composed of four provinces in northeastern Mindanao, is the largest exporter of minerals in the island with Japan, China and Australia as its main market.  It has an estimated 3.2 metric tons of assorted mineral deposits and is known as having Asia’s largest nickel deposit.

Nickel is commonly used in producing stainless steel, super alloys, electroplating, batteries, coinage, magnets and other industrial and commercial materials.

The DTI’s consolidated production report indicated  that the region’s 2007 production reached  P6.8 billion, but dropped to  P3.28 billion in 2008. Sources, however, said  mining investments in the region only reached $370 million in 2007.

“The decline of the consolidated production in 2008 was due to the global economic crisis, but it started to bounce back in 2009,” Pagaran said.  

He pointed out that the mining operations in the Caraga region have improved people’s  living conditions in the countryside as most of them, particularly indigenous people, found jobs while tax revenues for local government units also increased.

In 2008 alone, Pagaran said at least 9,291 people were employed by mining companies spread in different provinces. He added that the government revenue collection also went up by P1.241 billion in 2007 alone while social-development programs reached P50.5831 million. (Business Mirror)

yes, Pero Dako ba na part sa SDS ang na Mining?
Ngano diay kung taga caraga ko.. Dle diay pwede mahim0ng Anti-mining? Nagtoo pud ka sa tanang taw sa Caraga proud sa Mining? Sus! Mining company ray nabulahan... For $1Bln. Investement, nakapatukod ba sila na makapaimprove sa Lugar? Wala! Kundi ila rang Extractor ang natukod...kung ang Japan man gani nahimong 3rd Largest economy in the World without Minerals, philippines na n0on na Dato sa Minerals pero wala me dato... Mas angay pang ipaclose ng mining company... Destruction ray nadawat nato... Mining company ray nidato... Naa pay Currupt... Hahay... Mao ng Dili gyud ko ma proud anang Income sa Mining... "Caraga¡¯s impressive growth was fuelled by the 9.7-percent expansion of its Service sector and the rebound of its Agriculture sector to a growth of 3.4 percent in 2011 from a decline of 9.6 percent in 2010."

.
And where is the Mining Growth? :D :D :D WTF! Mas nilamang pang Agricultural na mas barato pa sa Minerals....

haha..pero wala lage ka kabalo na naa puy mining sa SDS! haha..igno jud ka oi..

wala na iapil ang mining kay taga DoA man ang naghimo anang report..:nuts::nuts: out na na sa ilaha oi nganong ireport man na nila..wait lang ka magreport pud ang Bureau of Mines and Geosciences..

Tag guba nman ini ato mga bukid! uno nman ini :-)

Caraga seen as emerging mining capital in Asia

Posted by Surigaonon Ako on 8:32 AM in Business Mirror, Caraga, DTI, Mining | 0 comments
The Caraga region is now being viewed as the emerging ¡°mining capital¡± in Asia with an increasing number of foreign and domestic investors pouring capital into the local mineral industry, a ranking official of the region¡¯s Department of Trade and Industry (DTI) here said.

Caraga¡¯s Trade and Industry regional director Brielgo O. Pagaran said the region has already been acknowledged as Asia¡¯s emerging mining capital. He said at least 41 mineral production and sharing agreements (MPSAs) are now operating in the provinces of Surigao del Sur, Surigao del Norte, Agusan del Norte and Agusan del Sur including Dinagat Islands.

Pagaran said the region, having rich mineral deposits, has attracted many new investors. He added that at least 71 applications for production sharing agreement have already been approved with 247,916.59 hectares, while exploration permits (EP) also reaches to 17 with 25,147.56 hectares.

Earlier, the Board of Investments has reportedly approved the grant of incentives to Marcventures Mining and Development Corp. (MMDC)¡¯s P474-million nickel-mining project in Cantilan, Surigao del Sur. The MMDC¡¯s nickel ore-mining project has capacities of up to 800,000 wet metric tons.

MMDC¡¯s nickel ore-mining project is expected to be operational starting this month and will employ around 215 people.

Sources said the Sumitomo Co. and Zamora Group mining investments are also expected to invest $1.2 billion in Surigao del Norte.

At present, Caraga region hosted at least 62 mining firms already engaged in mining exploration covering some 103,643.25 hectares, or 55.29 percent, of the entire mining permits approved in Mindanao.

Records at the Mines and Geosciences Bureau regional office, however, show that around 80 MPSAs,124 EP applications and five financial and technical assistance agreements are pending approval.�6§2

Caraga, which is composed of four provinces in northeastern Mindanao, is the largest exporter of minerals in the island with Japan, China and Australia as its main market.�6§2 It has an estimated 3.2 metric tons of assorted mineral deposits and is known as having Asia¡¯s largest nickel deposit.

Nickel is commonly used in producing stainless steel, super alloys, electroplating, batteries, coinage, magnets and other industrial and commercial materials.

The DTI¡¯s consolidated production report indicated�6§2 that the region¡¯s 2007 production reached�6§2 P6.8 billion, but dropped to�6§2 P3.28 billion in 2008. Sources, however,�6§2said �6§2mining investments in the region only reached $370 million in 2007.

¡°The decline of the consolidated production in 2008 was due to the global economic crisis, but it started to bounce back in 2009,¡± Pagaran said. �6§2

He pointed out that the mining operations in the Caraga region have improved people¡¯s �6§2living conditions in the countryside as most of them, particularly indigenous people, found jobs while tax revenues for local government units also increased.

In 2008 alone, Pagaran said at least 9,291 people were employed by mining companies spread in different provinces. He added that the government revenue collection also went up by P1.241 billion in 2007 alone while social-development programs reached P50.5831 million. (Business Mirror)

Another PRAISE RELEASE para lang makasulod ug Mining. Aynata... Gawas na ang kagid...

anyone been to Toledo City in Cebu? its a city mostly reliant for years on that nearby Atlas Mining Company.

now, compare Toledo City with Danao City also in Cebu whose economy is diverse or perhaps compare Toledo City now with the recently established cities like Carcar and Bogo (all in cebu)

anyone heard of a city or province here in da Pilipins who attained first class income status through mining?????

or anyone here know of a country achieving first world status through mining?????

anyone been to Toledo City in Cebu? its a city mostly reliant for years on that nearby Atlas Mining Company.

now, compare Toledo City with Danao City also in Cebu whose economy is diverse or perhaps compare Toledo City now with the recently established cities like Carcar and Bogo (all in cebu)

anyone heard of a city or province here in da Pilipins who attained first class income status through mining?????

or anyone here know of a country achieving first world status through mining?????

ive been to those places youve mentioned. ive even had a classmates whose parent s are working in atlas Mining and Nagoperate man ang Atlas until now ug hamok nakatrabaho. Dili man nimo ibase lang tanan sa Mining ang makapadatu sa Syudad..Pwerting layu man tawun ning Toledo sa Capital City which is Cebu. Carcar and Bogo is a small city na mas duol pa and still growing and it cant rival with Toledo in terms of Industries, maybe soon kay abtanan man pud na siya to nearby municipalities like Barili, Dumanjug up to Badian.Swerte lang ning Carcar kay ing-ani ang nahitabo niya.

What is happening to minglanilla, san fernando, carcar is a domino effect from the capital which is Cebu and that is what is happening to consolacion, liloan and danao. Consolacion is much improved than Danao since they now have SM and massive housing developments.Consolacion is near to HUC Mandaue. I understand you are trying to relate the economic status of these Cities pero mining in Toledo is just part of its economy..

anyone been to Toledo City in Cebu? its a city mostly reliant for years on that nearby Atlas Mining Company.

now, compare Toledo City with Danao City also in Cebu whose economy is diverse or perhaps compare Toledo City now with the recently established cities like Carcar and Bogo (all in cebu)

anyone heard of a city or province here in da Pilipins who attained first class income status through mining?????

or anyone here know of a country achieving first world status through mining?????
Can we have figures on the "compared" cities you mentioned? CCC alone earned P2.54B the other year (http://www.bworldonline.com/content.php?section=Corporate&title=Carmen-Copper-starts-operations-at-new-area&id=54085). Although, your post borders on CvC, I can see you haven't done a deeper investigation re mining in relation to the growth of a city.

Take this case: if Toledo City is suddenly taken off the map, even Danao City could be in the dark. That's because, what was once a city dependent solely in mining morphed into a powerhouse of electric generation! Please see how industries sprang-out around the area because investors knew they will be up and running even if the eastern side power conks out! You can look forward and see how things ought to be after mining heydays, but you need forward-looking local government officials, IMO.

no , I do not have the figures. I suppose you have more cerebral point by enlightening us with the comparative figures....can you please provide us here. Thank you

Can we have figures on the "compared" cities you mentioned? CCC alone earned P2.54B the other year (http://www.bworldonline.com/content.php?section=Corporate&title=Carmen-Copper-starts-operations-at-new-area&id=54085). Although, your post borders on CvC, I can see you haven't done a deeper investigation re mining in relation to the growth of a city.

Take this case: if Toledo City is suddenly taken off the map, even Danao City could be in the dark. That's because, what was once a city dependent solely in mining morphed into a powerhouse of electric generation! Please see how industries sprang-out around the area because investors knew they will be up and running even if the eastern side power conks out! You can look forward and see how things ought to be after mining heydays, but you need forward-looking local government officials, IMO.

In case some people are unaware, the mining/extractive industry is a vital component of an industrial economy. Consider:

1. The raw materials in cement manufacturing are limestone, shale, gypsum and pozzolan which are all non-metallic minerals. In the Philippines these are chiefly won by quarrying. In rare cases, but none in the Philippines, limestone is mined underground. How could industrialization proceed without cement?

2. Construction products like granite, marble, adobe are all extracted from the earth by mining. I am not aware though that we are quarrying granite in the Philippines.
We have marble quarries in Rizal, Bulacan, Cebu, Romblon, among others.

3. Industrial products like paint, toothpaste, ceramics, etc. have non-metallic components which are mined/quarried.

4. Gravel and stone aggregates are essential in road construction, dams and other infrastructure; these are likewise products of the mining/quarrying industry.

5. Gold has played a key role in world finance and in the jewelry business.

6. Copper is essential in the manufacturing industry.

There is no downplaying the fact that a few mining companies are remiss in their environmental and social responsibilities. However, given the essential role that mining plays in industrialization, the proper approach should be to ensure companies follow environmentally sound practices.

When you stop all mining in the world, development stops.

In case some people are unaware, the mining/extractive industry is a vital component of an industrial economy. Consider:

1. The raw materials in cement manufacturing are limestone, shale, gypsum and pozzolan which are all non-metallic minerals. In the Philippines these are chiefly won by quarrying. In rare cases, but none in the Philippines, limestone is mined underground. How could industrialization proceed without cement?

2. Construction products like granite, marble, adobe are all extracted from the earth by mining. I am not aware though that we are quarrying granite in the Philippines.
We have marble quarries in Rizal, Bulacan, Cebu, Romblon, among others.

3. Industrial products like paint, toothpaste, ceramics, etc. have non-metallic components which are mined/quarried.

4. Gravel and stone aggregates are essential in road construction, dams and other infrastructure; these are likewise products of the mining/quarrying industry.

5. Gold has played a key role in world finance and in the jewelry business.

6. Copper is essential in the manufacturing industry.

There is no downplaying the fact that a few mining companies are remiss in their environmental and social responsibilities. However, given the essential role that mining plays in industrialization, the proper approach should be to ensure companies follow environmentally sound practices.

When you stop all mining in the world, development stops.

Good read.

I am also for responsible mining as long as most of its output are used for the country where minerals are mined. If most of it are just exported, we are basically creating empty GDP growth output that will not create future growth.

T5J1er557iU

http://www.malaya.com.ph/index.php/business/business-news/12708-australian-visit-advance-party-to-talk-on-mining
Australian visit advance party to talk on mining

Published on Tuesday, 11 September 2012 00:00

Economic managers will explain the new mining policy to prospective investors in Australia ahead of the official visit of President Aquino next month.

An official privy to the event said Finance Secretary Cesar Purisima and Trade Secretary Gregory Domingo will lead the economic briefing for investors on the mining policy “and how it benefits them” at a roadshow that starts tomorrow September 12.

The officials would to meet separately with mining officials in Australia to correct misconceptions and clarify ambiguous issues on Executive Order issues by President Aquino last July.

“The group would relay the correct version from the horse’s mouth because investors hear a lot of things about the mining policy,” the official said.

President Aquino on October 22 to 28 would hold a six-day official visit to two of the world’s mineral-rich countries Australia and New Zealand these two countries to seek both business-to-business and government-to-government deals, in mining, infrastructure especially under the public-private partnership, shipbuilding, energy and even fishing.

The delegation would include members of the Chamber of Mines of the Philippines.

Some of the mining companies being targeted for meetings and deals in Australia are BHP Billiton and Rio Tinto, two largest companies in Australia; Indophil Resources and Xtrata Copper, investor in Tampakan copper-gold; Oceana Gold, investor in Didipio copper gold; CGA Mining Ltd., investor in Masbate gold mine.

Earlier, Trade Undersecretary Cristino Panlilio indicated the possibility of sealing deals with some of these companies.

Other possible investors that the Philippine delegation would meet include Leighton Holdings of Australia, a mining contractor and is engaged in infrastructure and; Serco Group Asia Pacific, also of Australia in infrastructure.

In shipbuilding, four of Australia’s biggest shipbuilding firms are being being eyed: BAE Systems Australia Holdings Ltd., Austal Ltd., ASC Pty Ltd. and Thales Australia HoldingS Pty Ltd.

On energy, Australian firms may be tapped for LNG terminals in the country Alliance Select, leading canned tuna manufacturer in the Philippines, is interested in fishing in New Zealand, bring the fish by reefer to the Philippines to augment supply here.

Joining the delegation are Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas Assistant Governor Ma. Cyd Tuaño-Amador, National Treasurer Roberto Tan, and Cosette Canilao of the Public Private Partnership Center.

Higher penalties expected

By Bettina Faye V. Roc
BusinessWorld

LISTED Philex Mining Corp. could face close to P1 billion in penalties following leaks from the tailings pond of its Padcal mine in Benguet, the government said yesterday.

Environment Secretary Ramon Jesus P. Paje said in a briefing in Quezon City that the copper and gold producer faces penalties under Republic Act No. 7942, or Philippine Mining Act of 1995, and RA 9275, or Clean Water Act of 2004.

"We are still computing the penalty [under the Mining Act], but it is much higher than our earlier estimate of P325 million. Based on the first incident, we have already communicated to the company that the penalty at the time was at P325 million, but now I think it’s already more than double or triple that amount, especially when we take into account the more recent leaks," said Mr. Paje. "Over and above that, we’re also computing an ongoing penalty of P200,000 per day under the Clean Water Act. We chose to use the maximum penalty based on our survey of the extent of the damage."

Read more...
http://www.bworldonline.com/content.php?section=TopStory&title=Higher-penalties-expected&id=58324

In case some people are unaware, the mining/extractive industry is a vital component of an industrial economy. Consider:

1. The raw materials in cement manufacturing are limestone, shale, gypsum and pozzolan which are all non-metallic minerals. In the Philippines these are chiefly won by quarrying. In rare cases, but none in the Philippines, limestone is mined underground. How could industrialization proceed without cement?

2. Construction products like granite, marble, adobe are all extracted from the earth by mining. I am not aware though that we are quarrying granite in the Philippines.
We have marble quarries in Rizal, Bulacan, Cebu, Romblon, among others.

3. Industrial products like paint, toothpaste, ceramics, etc. have non-metallic components which are mined/quarried.

4. Gravel and stone aggregates are essential in road construction, dams and other infrastructure; these are likewise products of the mining/quarrying industry.

5. Gold has played a key role in world finance and in the jewelry business.

6. Copper is essential in the manufacturing industry.

There is no downplaying the fact that a few mining companies are remiss in their environmental and social responsibilities. However, given the essential role that mining plays in industrialization, the proper approach should be to ensure companies follow environmentally sound practices.

When you stop all mining in the world, development stops.

No mining = no technology, no ELECTRICITY (copper wires)...basically, no economy. :lol:

But you are right, we need mining but we need to regulate it and be primarily for our own use. Rather than banning mining (like what those partylists, do), they should make conditions like 70% will have to be sold in the Philippines and strict environmental rules should be enforced.

No mining = no technology, no ELECTRICITY (copper wires)...basically, no economy. :lol:

strict environmental rules should be enforced.

This is very important. I hope the mining industry is going to be revived. It invigorates the economy of far-flung areas, employs local people, reaches out to the communities and enhances the skills of a lot of able-bodied Filipinos.

Malaking tulong ang mining pero minsan, malaking pinsala din ang dinudulot nito sa kalikasan. If done properly with proper guides and laws, this can be very helpful to our economy. Mga taga ibang bansa na lng ang nakikinabang sa ating likas na yaman.

Malaking tulong ang mining pero minsan, malaking pinsala din ang dinudulot nito sa kalikasan. If done properly with proper guides and laws, this can be very helpful to our economy. Mga taga ibang bansa na lng ang nakikinabang sa ating likas na yaman.

Laws, etc means nothing if those implementing can be bought, that is first and foremost.

Nagpalabas pa nga ng mga bagong orders, lalong gumulo! Dahil habang naging magulo ang batas, the more na may lusot! Ano sa palagay nyo?

Aussie mining firm secures funding for further PHL explorations
Australian miner Mindoro Resources, Ltd. (MRL) is stepping up exploration in four of its major projects in the Philippines, setting aside at least P50 million for explorations in the Western Visayas, Southern Luzon and Surigao del Norte.

“TVI (TVI Resources Development, Inc) has taken up placement in our company. We finished the exercise in October. Proceeds of the placement will be used to fund exploration activities of MRL projects in 2013,” company country manager Toni Climie said in an interview Monday.

He added that expenditures for exploration may increase if a particular project “is advancing.”

A two-tranche placement of 42.78 million units by TVI into MRL was recently concluded, which paved the way for the creation of a joint venture company – MRL Nickel, Inc.

“From here on, TVI will be funding our exploration costs for the Agata project in Surigao [del Norte] and Pan de Azucar in Iloilo. They (TVI) will operate the projects,” said Climie.

The Agata project has the potential to be a high-value-low-operating-cost endeavor and it may possibly establish the feasibility of a staged nickel project development.

In October 29 this year, MRL also entered into a joint venture agreement with Australian firm Red Mountain Mining. The joint venture created another joint venture company - MRL Gold, Inc.

The agreement gave Red Mountain 100 percent direct and indirect interest in MRL’s copper-gold projects in Batangas and Surigao del Norte.

Climie said that Red Mountain’s established resources will help MRL in the grassroots level of operations in the gold-copper projects. — DVM, GMA News
http://www.gmanetwork.com/news/story/281041/economy/agricultureandmining/aussie-mining-firm-secures-funding-for-further-phl-explorations

Canada PM urged to look into Canadian firms’ mining activities in PHL
Visiting Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper should look into the mining activities of Canadian firms in the country to make sure that these companies are not violating the rights of locals, two progressive party-list lawmakers said Sunday.

ACT Teachers party-list Rep. Antonio Tinio particularly urged Harper to investigate activities of Canada-based Toronto Ventures Incorporated (TVI), which has been seeking to develop open-pit mining for gold extraction in Zamboanga del Sur since last year.

“We hope that Prime Minister Harper will look into reports of serious human rights violations involving TVIRD operations in Zamboanga del Sur and take steps to ensure that Canadian mining firms doing business in the Philippines operate with due respect for human rights,” Tinio said in a statement Sunday.

Harper arrived in Manila last Friday for a three-day state visit. On Saturday, he inked a defense procurement deal with President Benigno Aquino III, supposedly to “enable the Philippines to acquire the equipment and expertise it needs to fulfill the country's defense and security agenda.”

Bayan Muna party-list Rep. Neri Colmenares meanwhile said that Harper should give Aquino the assurance that Canada will “in holding accountable” Canadian mining firms that are found to have committed human rights violations on Philippine soil.

“Coming from a country which prides itself with respecting human rights, and hosts a large number of Filipino immigrants, the Canadian delegation is asked to help in the battle against impunity in the country,” Colmenares said in a separate statement.

TVI Resource Development, the Canadian mining firm’s Philippine affiliate, is currently the subject of a House probe for alleged violations of small-scale miners’ rights in Bayog town in Zamboanga del Sur.

Tinio, who filed the House resolution which triggered the probe, said officials of the mining firm have already been summoned to the legislative inquiry. — BM, GMA News
http://www.gmanetwork.com/news/story/281848/economy/agricultureandmining/canada-pm-urged-to-look-into-canadian-firms-mining-activities-in-phl

No mining = no technology, no ELECTRICITY (copper wires)...basically, no economy. :lol:

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . they should make conditions like 70% will have to be sold in the Philippines and strict environmental rules should be enforced.
But, will you buy my laterite ore, if I may ask? Pray tell me, which company in the country processes laterite so I can sell them ore! Or perhaps you are talking about gold alone!:lol::lol::lol::lol::lol:

Coal Asia eyes expansion in Mindanao
Publicly listed Coal Asia Holdings Inc. is looking at expansion opportunities in Mindanao amid the explosion of demand to meet the region’s energy needs.
Coal Asia, which is one of the few major coal players in the area, said it was now in talks with the Department of Energy and other power companies that were planning to expand operations in the southern part of the country for long-term supply agreements.
“Positive talks with large power producers have been initiated and talks of a mine-mouth power plant set-up have been mentioned,” the company said in a statement.
To add to its commitment to the energy sector, Coal Asia’s affiliate, Colossal Petroleum Corp., signed a memorandum of agreement to buy into VenturOil, which owns Service Contract (SC) No. 6. The said contract covers offshore oil and gas exploration rights to Northwest Palawan encompassing the Cadlao and Bonita oil fields.
Amid expansion plans, Coal Asia said a recent assessment by independent investment bank Multinational Investment Bancorporation (MIB) showed that the company “was still significantly undervalued, based on its current share price.”
In compliance with PSE requirements related to the IPO, Coal Asia has decided to engage an accredited third-party company to re-evaluate and revalue the coal resources of its subsidiary, Titan Mining and Energy Company (TMEC).
A previous valuation was done in May 2012 by Multinational Investment Bancorporation (MIB) which, based on data from March 2012, had valued the coal reserves at 123 million metric tons (MMT) amounting to P12.5 billion.
Data as of June and July of this year indicated that results of the previous valuation based on the existing coal operating contracts (COC) in Davao Oriental and in Zamboanga-Sibugay might still be undervalued because of the current coal prices and the estimated yield from the said COCs.
Market capitalization was at P4.24 billion as of the last trading day.
“Based on the results of the revaluation, the corporation should conduct a study on options to enhance stockholders benefits. The enhancement in the corporation’s assets will allow it to have retained earnings, and will result in a possible buy-back program depending on the surplus situation,” Coal Asia said.—Paolo G. Montecillo
http://business.inquirer.net/92652/coal-asia-eyes-expansion-in-mindanao

Philex spill ‘biggest mining disaster’ in PHL, surpassing Marcopper – DENR
(Exclusive) After months of recurring leakages, the Philex mine spill in Benguet has become the “biggest mining disaster” in the Philippines in terms of volume, but the company is seeking a clean-up option instead of paying the hefty fine of P1 billion, officials said.

Some 20 million metric tons of sediments have flowed into water channels from the Philex tailings pond in Itogon since its drainage tunnel was breached last August, according to a report from the Mines and Geosciences Bureau of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (MGB-DENR).

This is ten times more than the volume of mine tailings that spilled out of the Marcopper mine in 1996 in Marinduque, which dumped some two million metric tons of waste into the Boac River and is still considered the worst mining disaster in terms of toxicity. Residents along the 27-kilometer Boac River lost their fishing livelihood and diseases have afflicted the community after the incident.

“In terms of volume, ito [Philex mine tailings spill] ngayon ‘yung biggest mining disaster in the Philippines,” MGB chief Leo Jasareno told GMA News Online in an exclusive interview last Friday.

Philex spokesperson Atty. Eduardo Aratas affirmed the statement: “Because of the volume [of the leak], it is really the biggest. But on the toxicity, it is not.”

Mining officials are still studying the toxicity levels of the wastes from the gold and copper mine that were deposited in nearby waterways after heavy monsoon rains led to a major breach in its drainage tunnel last August 1. About five "minor" recurrences have been reported since then, Jasareno said.

This week, the bureau is set to conduct a socio-environmental impact assessment of the tailings pond leak to determine the extent of the damage.

The DENR has slapped a hefty P1-billion fine, almost as much as the mining firm's taxes last year, on one of the country’s largest producers of gold and copper.

But Philex is reluctant to pay up, arguing that, “forces of nature cannot be prevented 100 percent.”

Aratas asserted, “Ang sinasabi ng management, sige if you fine us tapos na dapat [‘yung responsibility]. Or, if you order us to clean up, then gagawin namin ‘yun.”

The MGB chief is standing pat on the penalty. “Ang contention kasi ng Philex pagka-force majeure hindi sila dapat magbayad ng P1 billion. [Pero] dun sa provision ng Mining Act na kung saan namin hinugot yung parusa… wala namang nakalagay na hindi ka magbabayad kung force majeure,” Jasareno explained.

Balog Creek ‘biologically dead’

The penalty for violating other environmental laws – such as the Clean Water Act – will be imposed separately on Philex, Jasareno said. This will cost about P50,000 per day, in addition to a clean-up plan for the rehabilitation of damaged waterways.

The company has said that torrential monsoon rains caused a breach in its Tailings Pond 3 -- the largest in the country at 80 hectares -- which can hold up to 160 million metric tons of wastewater and sediments from the mining operations.

The leakage in what is currently the only operating tailings pond of Philex spilled waste into nearby water channels, particularly Balog Creek, which flows into the Agno River.

Last October, an environmental investigative mission declared Balog Creek "biologically dead" after it suffered the worst of the discharge, which was deposited along the 2.5-kilometer water channel.

The creek had turned gray, with the riverbed full of mud and the water brownish in color. There were no signs of frogs, dragonflies, aquatic plants or moss. The water was too murky to spot any fish.

According to the Philex spokesperson, the company is aware that the mining leak weighs heavily on the public’s perception of mining operations in the country.

“Ang face ng mining will be at stake [dito]. Ayaw din namin na i-fail,” said Aratas. “Hindi lang Philex kasi ito. We are carrying the burden of proving that mining is really responsible.”

Trust fund for communities

Jasareno said the fines would be placed in a trust fund that will be used to pay for the claims of affected residents or communities.

The MGB director added that the 57-year-old company would not be allowed to continue its operations “unless they are able to undertake the necessary remediation measures provided by law.”

“Dapat i-remedy nila, otherwise di [sila] bibigyan ng permit,” he pointed out.

According to Aratas, the company managed to plug the leak last September, but its operations remain suspended pending the clean-up of the mining spill.

In early October, President Aquino referred to the mining disaster, without naming Philex directly, when he told the Foreign Correspondents Association of the Philippines that reforms were needed in the mining law:
"In terms of revenues, our position is government gets something like less than 10 percent of what they (mining companies) make. But we have a hundred percent if there is a problem that crops up, meaning, for instance, one of the oldest firms – of mining firms – in the country suffered multiple failures of their tailings pond, and that redounds to quite a significant impact on the environment.

"We still stick with our position that there has to be a reformulation of the governing law with regards to the mining industry. And we would rather not continue the situation or also the risks until the remedies or the corrections in the mining laws will be corrected." – YA/HS, GMA News
http://www.gmanetwork.com/news/story/281988/news/nation/philex-spill-biggest-mining-disaster-in-phl-surpassing-marcopper-ndash-denr

I've heard from an interview with a Philex official that the penalty should not be that much since the catastrophe was brought about by acts of God.

Even so, should forces of nature be used as an scapegoat? I still think that the breach should have been avoided since we had been warned of heavy rains. They should have anticipated for the worst cases of forces of nature in their prevention schemes. Can that dead Balog Creek be brough to life again? And this creek flows to a much wider body of water which I think in which water is being collected by a dam?

I've heard from an interview with a Philex official that the penalty should not be that much since the catastrophe was brought about by acts of God.

Even so, should forces of nature be used as an scapegoat? I still think that the breach should have been avoided since we had been warned of heavy rains. They should have anticipated for the worst cases of forces of nature in their prevention schemes. Can that dead Balog Creek be brough to life again? And this creek flows to a much wider body of water which I think in which water is being collected by a dam?
Yep, the accumulation of rainfall in the area increased the volume (hence the water level contained in the dam). The design of that Pond 3 looks proper for the normal operation of the mining aspect. IMO, what was missed are the drain channels to keep rainwater from nearby mountain slopes from mixing with the tailings water in the tailings dam.

DOE to award 40 oil, coal contracts by yearend

MANILA, Philippines - The Department of Energy (DOE) is looking to start the awarding of service contracts for nearly 40 petroleum and coal projects late this year.

This will jumpstart the country’s bid to explore its natural resources for new petroleum sources, a DOE official said.

Energy Undersecretary Ramon Allan Oca said they are hoping to award new service contracts under the Philippine Energy Contracting Round (PECR) 4 late this year.

“We are still undergoing continuous review,” Oca said on the sidelines of the Upstream Energy 2012 conference in Pasay City.

“We want to make sure that when we award these things, it is given to the really most qualified [firms] and that we want to ensure that the process is something fair,” Oca said.

The PECR 4 auctions in April and July attracted 20 offers for 11 petroleum blocks and 69 bids for 28 coal areas. In the past three PECRs, the DOE received only 12 bids in total.

In July last year, the DOE launched PECR 4, offering 15 new petroleum exploration projects and 38 coal blocks nationwide that will require around $7.5 billion in investments.

Oca said the review is already in the top management level of the DOE.

However, the awarding has already been pushed back. In July, the DOE announced that it might award service contracts to winning bidders in September or October.

Oca said numerous new service contracts will be awarded to companies all at once.

“As we know, the Philippines is underexplored so this is a step towards that (more exploration projects),” Oca said.

The PECR 4, the biggest offering of the country so far, comprises three onshore and 12 offshore blocks with a total area of more than 10 million hectares mostly located in Northwest Palawan and East Palawan that are in the West Philippine Sea (South China Sea) and Sulu Sea basins.

To date, there are 27 service contracts in the Philippines involving Shell Philippines Exploration, Nido Petroleum and BHP Billiton. However, only the Malampaya and Galoc oil fields are in regular production.

The DOE is pursuing energy independence and sustainability through the development of indigenous energy resources like coal, petroleum and natural gas.

For coal, local miners are producing only seven million metric tons (MT) of coal per year, not enough to support the nation’s annual demand of 12 million MT, data from the DOE showed. This prompts power generators and cement plants to buy coal in countries like Indonesia.

“The Asia-Pacific region has been and continues to be the most reliant to coal for power generation,” Rufino Bomasang, chairman of the Philippine Chamber of Coal Mines, said in his paper presented at the forum.

“Unfortunately, the expansion of Philippine coal development utilization has been stymied by opposition of different sectors on concerns on adverse impacts on coal mining and coal combustion,” Bomasang said.

Meanwhile, Oca said the DOE is still keen on developing the Camago well in the Malampaya gas field in Northwest Palawan.

“We are always trying to take a look on how we can develop that,” Oca said.

“But we have to ensure the safety of the gas operations because it stands in the middle of the gas operations so safety considerations for the gas operations are utmost importance,” Oca said.
http://www.philstar.com/business/2012/11/15/866741/doe-award-40-oil-coal-contracts-yearend

Australian oil firm to explore 3 Cebu prospects
By Neil Jerome Morales (The Philippine Star) | Updated December 2, 2012 - 12:00am

MANILA, Philippines - Australian upstream oil firm Gas2Grid Ltd. will conduct exploration works on three prospects in onshore Cebu island until early next year.

A successful work program will allow the company to fuel a natural gas power plant, the company said.

Specifically, it will conduct a workover for Malolos-1, which will involve the removal and transfer of tubes to Malolos-1 from Nuevo Malolos-1, and oil and gas flow testing.

“The anticipated completion of the two objectives from this workover program will take approximately six weeks,” Gas2Grid said.

The Sydney-based firm holds the 750-square-kilometer petroleum Service Contract 44 located in onshore Cebu island.

Gas2Grid will also conduct exploratory drilling at the Gumamela-1 prospect, which has an estimated 15 million barrels of recoverable oil potential.
Business ( Article MRec ), pagematch: 1, sectionmatch: 1

http://www.philstar.com/business/2012/12/02/878201/australian-oil-firm-explore-3-cebu-prospects

Fluor Corp eyes more projects in Phl
By Louella D. Desiderio (The Philippine Star) | Updated December 2, 2012 - 12:00am
MANILA, Philippines - Fluor Corp., a firm engaged in engineering and construction management, is looking to participate in more projects in the country, particularly in the areas of power, oil and gas and mining, in line with its goal of growing its business here.

Dan Spinks, vice president and country manager of Fluor Philippines said in an interview the firm is interested in working on other projects in the country in the areas of power, oil and gas and mining as it intends to grow and expand its presence here.

“These are the areas I will be targeting here. These are the areas where I see growth,” he said.

Fluor has completed projects in the country which include Enron Power Corp.’s coal-fired power plant in Batangas and Procter & Gamble’s Cabuyao facility in Laguna.

The firm is currently working on the third phase of the Malampaya gas-to-power project.

Phase 3 involves the design, fabrication and installation of a new depletion compression platform that is linked by a bridge to the existing shallow water platform.
Business ( Article MRec ), pagematch: 1, sectionmatch: 1



For the third phase of the project, Fluor is responsible for the engineering and procurement for the new depletion compression platform as well as modifications required on the shallow water platform.

Earlier, the firm entered into a joint venture with Filipino firm AG&P that specializes in modular engineering and fabrication services.

The new entity, AG&P Fluor Joint Venture Company, Inc., is engaged in providing a full range of integrated engineering, fabrication, module assembly and construction services.

Spinks said the firm is also interested in the government’s infrastructure projects under the Public-Private Partnership program but noted that they would want to take part in it with a local partner.

Fluor’s Philippine operations employs 2,248 workers. It started in 1987 with just 57 employees.

The Philippines is the firm’s largest operation in Asia and the third biggest in the world.

As the firm intends and expects its business to grow here, it is looking at hiring more employees.

Spinks said he expects the firm’s total number of employees here to reach close to 3,000 next year.

He also said the firm is aiming to grow its business here given the environment which is conducive to business, opportunities for infrastructure, availability of talent and competitive cost.
http://www.philstar.com/business/201...e-projects-phl

Ruschlikon is a village in Switzerland with a very low tax rate and very wealthy residents. There is so much money in the public coffers that mayor can't spend it all, largely thanks to the contribution from one resident - Ivan Glasenberg, CEO of commodities giant Glencore. However, Glencore's copper mines in Zambia don't generate similar tax windfalls for Zambians. The country has the third largest copper reserves in the world, but 60 per cent of the population live on less than $1 a day and 80 per cent are unemployed. Christoffer Guldbrandsen investigates the dark heart of the tax system employed by multi-nationals and asks how much profit is fair.

A BBC Storyville film, produced in partnership with the Open University, Stealing Africa screens as part of Why Poverty? - when the BBC, in conjunction with more than 70 broadcasters around the world, hosts a debate about contemporary poverty. The global cross-media event sees the same eight films screened in 180 countries to explore why, in the 21st Century, a billion people still live in poverty.




http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p010jx25
UFgurguhLsA
http://youtu.be/UFgurguhLsA

Glencore/Xstrata manages the multi-billion dollar Tampakan Copper-Gold Project in South Cotabato, Mindanao, Philippines.

I've heard from an interview with a Philex official that the penalty should not be that much since the catastrophe was brought about by acts of God.

Even so, should forces of nature be used as an scapegoat? I still think that the breach should have been avoided since we had been warned of heavy rains. They should have anticipated for the worst cases of forces of nature in their prevention schemes. Can that dead Balog Creek be brough to life again? And this creek flows to a much wider body of water which I think in which water is being collected by a dam?

Philex has religious prohets? Oh no.

IMO, we should have strict protocols than strict investment laws. After all, there isn't any guarantee that local firms are better than foreign firms.

A testament to that is what you have said earlier regarding Philex

:nuts:

Xstrata's Philippine unit delays $5.9bn mine project to 2019 (http://www.miningweekly.com/article/xstratas-philippine-unit-delays-59-bln-mine-project-to-2019-2012-12-12):ohno::ohno:
Reuters


MANILA - Global miner Xstrata Plc's Philippine unit has delayed by three years, to 2019, a target to start production at the $5.9-billion Tampakan copper-gold mine in the country's south, as it remains hopeful of winning approvals from regulators.

Conflicting rules and a freeze on new mine deals in the Philippines are strangling development of the country's untapped mineral resources, estimated by the government to be worth $850-billion.

The Tampakan project, which would be the Philippines' single largest foreign direct investment, has been held up by a 2010 ban on open-pit mining imposed by the government of South Cotabato province, the site of the mine.

Sagittarius Mines Inc (SMI) hopes to start mine construction by 2015, two years later than scheduled, before production starts in 2019, the company said in a statement. It originally aimed to start production in 2016.

So long as the project received local government endorsement and final approvals from the national government, it would go ahead, subject to an investment decision by shareholders, SMI President Peter Forrestal said.

"Construction could potentially commence in 2015, enabling commercial production in 2019," he added.

Sagittarius has had problems getting approvals from the mining regulator for Tampakan because of the ban, which contradicts a national law that is silent on mining methods.

Sagittarius is also partly owned by Australia's Indophil Resources NL, in which Philippine conglomerate San Miguel Corp has a stake of 10%.

The Tampakan mine is estimated to contain 15-million tons of copper and 17.6-million ounces of gold.

As a result of the Philippine mining imbroglio, investments in the sector over the next four years are likely to be less than half the $12-billion originally forecast, state regulator the Mines and Geosciences Bureau has said.

In October, President Benigno Aquino said he wanted Congress to first pass legislation to raise state revenues from mining and put in place environmental safeguards before issuing new mining permits, including those for the Tampakan mine.
Edited by: Reuters

-------------------------

credit goes to pnoy :|:|:|....

In October, President Benigno Aquino said he wanted Congress to first pass legislation to raise state revenues from mining and put in place environmental safeguards before issuing new mining permits, including those for the Tampakan mine.

Good, lets not get duped by this mining corporations. We need to get as much share of the revenue (tax/sales) as much as possible and make sure we are not left with a toxic environmental mess.

w-dryQrEIXs



FrHFLQaGzzg



ZfCQVxmRIXo

credits to King Tot (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZfCQVxmRIXo)

dapat i-nationalize ang mining natin, mantakin nyo halos saang sulok ng pinas may mga ginto, kaso ang masaklap mga walang hiyang tsina lang ang nakikinabang at ang mga sakim na opisyales sa gobyerno, mga smuggler ng bansa,..

Australian miner finds high grade gold in Batangas
By Czeriza Valencia (The Philippine Star) | Updated December 20, 2012 - 12:00am
1 26 googleplus0 0

MANILA, Philippines - Australian miner Red Mountain Mining Limited yesterday announced that a second high grade gold system was found within the Lobo gold prospect within the Batangas gold project it acquired from Mindoro Resources Limited.

In a statement, Red Mountain said the first hole of a planned 10-hole diamond drilling program at the West Drift epithermal lode structure at the Lobo prospect, has returned an intersection of 8.60 meters (m) at 2.53 grams per ton of gold (g/t Au) from 136.6m depth downhole including 0.85m at 5.59g/t Au and 1.0m at 4.62g/t Au.

The Lobo prospect, located west of the Archangel gold prospect, also includes the South West Breccia high grade resource.

The new intersection is from Hole LB66 and is part of an initial drilling program conducted by Red Mountain at West Drift to target high grade gold mineralization below the old Lobo copper mine.

“If successful this program has the potential to increase the known Lobo gold resources significantly as the West Drift target area is at least four times larger than the existing South West Breccia resource area immediately to its south,” said Red Mountain Executive Chairman and Acting CEO, Neil Warburton.

In late October, Mindoro Resources announced the completion of the sale of its 100 percent direct and indirect assets in its Batangas gold project (which includes the Lobo property) and its 75 percent direct and indirect interest in the Tapian San Francisco copper-gold project located in Surigao to Red Mountain Mining.

Business ( Article MRec ), pagematch: 1, sectionmatch: 1


As consideration for the sale, Red Mountain has issued Mindoro with 100 million fully paid ordinary shares, with full voting rights, to be held in escrow for 12 months, together with 50 million performance shares.

The Red Mountain shares issued to Mindoro are valued at around A$10 million. Mindoro Resources now holds a 55.8 percent interest in Red Mountain on an undiluted basis.

http://philstar.com/business/2012/12/20/887890/australian-miner-finds-high-grade-gold-batangas

UFgurguhLsA
http://youtu.be/UFgurguhLsA

Glencore/Xstrata manages the multi-billion dollar Tampakan Copper-Gold Project in South Cotabato, Mindanao, Philippines.

it's that same company that committed these hideous atrocities against the Indigenous Peoples:

Tribe family in Tampakan massacred by military (http://bulatlat.com/main/2012/10/18/tribe-family-in-tampakan-massacred-by-military/)



A relative of the two Capion victims, Liah Capion, has previously denounced SMI saying that because she and her family had stood up against the entry of the mining company in their once peaceful community, the Army imprisoned one of her sons and declared three others as outlaws and fugitives.


MANILA — An anti-mining group is accusing the 27th Infantry Battalion of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) of being behind the massacre of a family, who has long been fighting the Tampakan Gold project of SaXstrata’s Sagittarius Mines Inc. (SMI), in Bong Mal South Cotabato.

The Alyansa Tigil Mina received reports that between 6:00 to 6:30 in the morning of October 18, soldiers under the command of Col. Alexis Bravo of the 27th IB of the Philippine Army raided the house of anti-mining advocate Daguil Capion. Minutes later, it was learned that three other civilians Juvy Capion, 27, Pop Capion, 13, and John, 8 were killed during the raid. As of this writing, Daguil remains in critical condition.


Wife and 2 children of tribal anti-mining activist killed by gov’t forces (http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/291424/wife-and-2-children-of-tribal-anti-mining-activist-killed-by-govt-forces#.UICu482QVSo.facebook)
The wife and two young children of a B’laan leader opposed to the entry of Xstrata’s Sagittarius Mines Inc. in South Cotabato and Davao del Sur were killed in what the military claimed was a firefight between a group of tribal ‘bandits’ and a combined force of Army soldiers and policemen early Thursday morning.

Oil consortium to drill exploratory well in northwest Leyte by next year

By: Euan Paulo C. Anonuevo, InterAksyon.com
December 26, 2012 8:51 PM

MANILA - The consortium exploring for oil and gas in onshore Leyte has formalized its plan to drill a well in its contract area.

In a disclosure to the Philippine Stock Exchange, Alcorn Gold Resources Corp said the Service Contract 51 consortium has elected to enter the fifth sub-phase of the group's work program.

This entails the drilling of one exploratory well between February 2013 and January 2014.

The group had said it will conduct drilling activities in the exploration block by mid-2013.

The entire drilling program, inclusive of resource testing, will require a budget of $6.7 million.

The SC 51 consortium will drill the said well at the Duhat-2 prospect in the town of San Isidro in northwest Leyte.

SC 51 is led by Australia's Otto Energy Ltd. Its partners in the contract area Alcorn, Trans-Asia Oil and Energy Development Corp and PetroEnergy Resources Corp.

Based on the group's projections, the exploration block may contain up to 23 million barrels or petroleum resources with a potential upside of 59 million barrels.

http://www.interaksyon.com/business/51313/oil-consortium-to-drill-exploratory-well-in-northwest-leyte-by-next-year

List of Petroleum Service Contract

http://armandecastro.files.wordpress.com/2011/03/scmap2008.jpg (http://armandecastro.files.wordpress.com/2011/03/scmap2008.jpg)

Other ,For Me Potential Gas and Oil Reserves

- Agusan Marsh
- Benham Rise
- Sierra Madre Long Coast
- Samar (especially the Pacific Coast)
- ARMM (Sulu , Tawi 2 , Basilan)
- Sulu Sea ( Tubataha Reef)

China open to joint oil dev’t in Recto Bank
The Philippines and China may forge ahead with the joint exploration of oil and gas reserves in the West Philippine Sea, which the latter calls the South China Sea, even as their leaders continue to squabble over boundaries.
Chinese Ambassador to the Philippines Ma Keqing made this suggestion as she said these resources could remain idle for a very long time if the Philippines and China waited for a final resolution of their territorial dispute before engaging in any commercial development in the area.
In an interview with the Philippine Daily Inquirer editorial team last month, Ma said the Philippines and China should allow oil and gas prospectors—China National Offshore Oil Corp. (CNOOC) and the Forum Energy-led consortium of businessmen Manuel V. Pangilinan and Enrique Razon Jr.—to strike a deal to confirm and maximize the oil and gas potential of Recto Bank off the coast of Palawan province.
Estimates showed that the Recto Bank prospect has potential reserves of 3.4-trillion cubic feet of gas and 440 million barrels of oil that would make this a bigger find than the Malampaya gas field, also off Palawan.
“I think they (Forum Energy) are now discussing a joint cooperation with China. It’s a very positive sign. Why not let two companies discuss the cooperation? I think cooperation will be the best way,” Ma said.
Joint understanding
The Chinese ambassador took note of “previous proposals to shelve sovereignty disputes and pursue joint cooperation,” referring to the Joint Maritime Seismic Understanding (JMSU) that the Arroyo administration initiated in 2005.
Under the JMSU, the three signatories—CNOOC, Petron Corp. of the Philippines and Vietnam Oil and Gas Corp. (PetroVietnam)—agreed to explore for three years the potential for oil in the disputed waters among the three countries.
The arrangement was criticized as unconstitutional for failing to comply with the 40-percent foreign ownership limit on join exploration deals involving natural resources of the Philippines.
Formula valid
“I think it is still a very valid formula pending the solution of the disputes. We can have cooperation with each other to [explore] the resources because we cannot see in the near future… that we can solve all the disputes,” the Chinese ambassador said.
Ma said the disputes over sovereignty and territorial integrity were very sensitive matters.
“We must be very, very careful when talking about the territorial issues or disputes, that’s why. Why not shelve the issues and talk about cooperation?” she said.
Bigger picture
Ma said that in this era of globalization, the interests of China and those of other countries in the region were intertwined.
“China’s interests are interconnected with its neighbors’ and other countries’ at large. I think that is the bigger picture. If we want to seize opportunities [and] not lose time, we should get along with each other,” she said.
Political reality
In a text message, Pangilinan, chairman of Philex Mining Corp., concurred with the views of Ma to explore Recto Bank. But he said he must face the “political reality” involved in any Recto Bank find.
“I must say that the Chinese position, as articulated by the current Chinese Ambassador Ma and by [its] past ambassadors, has, as far as I know, been consistent in respect of the dual sovereignty or commercial aspects of the potential oil and gas resources in the West Philippine Sea. That’s the same stance CNOOC conveyed to us last year,” he said in a text message.
“As businessmen, we can only respond appropriately to one side of that duality—the commercial one. That’s a course we would like to pursue keenly, purely as a commercial matter. After all, if there is nothing out there under the seas, what is there to quibble and quarrel about?” he said.
Pangilinan added: “We appreciate that we cannot abstract from the political realities obtaining and, since we’re only a contractor to—not owner of—those potential resources, we must respect and work within the political guidelines and rules.”
In a text message, Razon, chairman of International Container Terminal Services Inc., said that reaching a “commercial solution” first between the Philippines and China was possible while the territorial dispute remained unresolved.
Negotiate profit sharing
Razon said the parties could negotiate on profit sharing and royalties from any oil and gas find that would be agreeable to both the Philippine and Chinese governments. He suggested that drilling rigs be provided by operators from third-party countries.
Pangilinan and Razon are the joint holders of Service Contract No. 72, the state-granted exploration franchise that covers 80,000 hectares in Recto Bank. The bank falls within the 330-kilometer exclusive economic zone (EEZ) under the Philippine Archipelagic Baselines Law.
Pangilinan’s Philex Mining, though its subsidiaries FEC Resources Inc. and Philex Petroleum, owns a controlling 64.45 percent of Forum Energy Plc, which holds 70 percent of SC 72. The remaining 30 percent of SC 72 is owned by Razon’s Monte Oro Resources and Energy Inc.
Pangilinan met with CNOCC officials last year for a possible tie-up but Razon said Monte Oro was not too keen on getting a Chinese partner for its share in SC 72.
President Aquino is adamant that all royalties go to the Philippines because Recto Bank is clearly inside the Philippine EEZ, being 150 km off Palawan while Hainan, the nearest Chinese territory, is 570 km away.
Forum was scheduled in October last year to check the soil stability in the area in preparation for an appraisal well drilling in the first or second quarter of this year. But the Department of Energy refused to give Forum the go-signal pending the resolution of the territorial dispute with China.
http://globalnation.inquirer.net/61007/china-open-to-joint-oil-devt-in-recto-bank

traydor na Tsina
dapat maglaway sya sa langis ng Pinas hindi papasalihin sa pagmimina:D

Australian mining company steps up sampling after high-grade gold discovery in Batangas
MANILA - Perth-based Red Mountain Mining Ltd. said it has ramped up surface sampling after the discovery of higher grade gold from the South West Breccia of the Lobo project in Batangas.

In a statement, Red Mountain said it is sampling the identified epithermal vein-breccia structures at Lobo, as well as exploring for new high-grade gold bearing structures.Read more (http://interaksyon.com/business/52131/australian-mining-company-steps-up-sampling-after-high-grade-gold-discovery-in-batangas)

China open to joint oil dev’t in Recto Bank

http://globalnation.inquirer.net/61007/china-open-to-joint-oil-devt-in-recto-bank

KAPAL ng mga mukha ng mga piratang ito! Wag pag bigyan!:cheers:

Maritime disputes stall planned oil exploration in S China sea
MANILA - Maritime disputes continue to stall plans to start offshore oil and natural gas drilling activities off the Philippines' Palawan Province in the South China Sea, an investor said Thursday.

"The commercial venture is caught up in the geopolitics of the situation," Manuel Pangilinan, chairman and CEO of Philex Mining Corp., said. "It is caught up as well in the policy issues of several governments, basically China and the United States."

The Philippine government has awarded the right to explore for oil and natural gas deposits on Reed Bank, known as Recto Bank in the Philippines, in the South China Sea off northwestern Palawan, but the awarding has drawn protests from claimants including China, Vietnam and Taiwan.
http://www.abs-cbnnews.com/business/01/18/13/disputes-stall-planned-oil-gas-exploration-s-china-sea

Kamusta and ano na nangyai sa pinagyayabang dati ni pnoy na "Iraq" size na langis?

Kamusta and ano na nangyai sa pinagyayabang dati ni pnoy na "Iraq" size na langis?

Biro lang yun! Kelan ba naging seryoso yan?:lol::lol::lol::lol::lol:

pinag aaralan pa

US agency sees huge oil, gas potential in Spratlys
By Iris C. Gonzales (The Philippine Star) | Updated February 11, 2013 - 12:00am


MANILA, Philippines - The disputed Reed Bank in the Spratly Islands is estimated to contain up to 5.4 billion barrels of oil and 55.1 trillion cubic feet (tcf) of natural gas, according to a newly published report by the United States Energy Information Administration (EIA).

Quoting data from the US Geological Survey, the EIA estimates the disputed Spratly Islands territory may contain significant deposits of undiscovered hydrocarbons.

“USGS assessments estimate anywhere between 0.8 and 5.4 (mean 2.5) billion barrels of oil and between 7.6 and 55.1 (mean 25.5) tcf of natural gas in undiscovered resources,” the EIA said in the Feb. 7 report.

“Evidence suggests that most of these resources are likely located in the contested Reed Bank at the northeast end of the Spratlys, which is claimed by China, Taiwan, and Vietnam,” the EIA also said.

read more (http://www.philstar.com/business/2013/02/11/907251/us-agency-sees-huge-oil-gas-potential-spratlys)

FACTBOX: Oil, gas potential In disputed South China Sea
February 8, 2013 11:47am

The South China Sea holds around 11 billion barrels of oil and 190 trillion cubic feet (tcf) of natural gas in proven and probable reserves, surpassing the untapped resources in Europe, the U.S. Energy Information Administration said.

China claims ownership of the entire South China Sea, including the Spratlys which is claimed in whole by Taiwan and Vietnam and in part by Malaysia, Brunei and the Philippines.

The Philippines refers to a portion of the South China Sea as the West Philippine Sea.

The EIA estimated the Spratlys could contain between 800 million and 5.4 billion barrels of oil and 7.6 to 55.1 tcf of natural gas in undiscovered resources.

The following shows the estimated energy output for 2011 in the South China Sea by country, and also indicates the companies involved. (Oil is estimated in 1,000 barrels per day, while natural gas is in billion cubic feet.)

Country Oil Natgas Oil firms

Brunei 120 400 Petroleum Brunei, BHP Billiton,
ConocoPhillips, Hess Corp,
Kulczyk Oil Ventures, Mitsubishi Corp,
Murphy Oil, Petronas, Polyard
Petroleum, QAF Brunei, Royal Dutch
Shell, Total

China 250 600 CNOOC, Sinopec, CNPC, BG
Group, BP, Chevron,
ConocoPhillips, Eni, ExxonMobil,
Husky, Newfield,
Shell, Total

Indonesia 60 200 Pertamina, PetroChina, CNPC,
ConocoPhillips, Eni, ExxonMobil, Husky, KUFPEC,
Petronas, Santos, Statoil,
Total

Malaysia 500 1,800 Petronas, Lundin, BHP Billiton, ConocoPhillips,
ExxonMobil, Hess, KUFPEC, MDC O&G, Murphy Oil,
Nippon, Petrofac, Roc Oil,
Shell, Talisman Energy

Philippines 25 100 PNOC, ExxonMobil, Shell

Thailand - - BG Group, Chevron, Shell

Vietnam 300 300 KNOC, ConocoPhillips, Geopetrol, Premier Oil,
PTTEP, Santos, SK Corp,
Total, Zarubezhneft
source (http://www.gmanetwork.com/news/story/294036/news/world/factbox-oil-gas-potential-in-disputed-south-china-sea)

Frontier Oil acquires contract covering Calauit field

MANILA - Frontier Oil Corp has acquired Service Contract 50 in northwestern Palawan, including the proven Calauit oil field, ahead of the company's planned initial public offering in the second quarter.

“The acquisition of the Calauit field is another component of the company’s strategy to become a significant oil and gas player, based on a range of Philippine projects with proven potential and substantial capacity," said Kristoffer Fellowes, Frontier Oil chief executive officer.

The Calauit fields –- which comprise the Calauit 1B and Calauit South-1A discoveries –- have been the subject of comprehensive technical analysis over an extended period, mitigating risk factors to a substantial degree and proving the existence of a compelling commercial quantity of recoverable oil.

While previous assessments had indicated a total potential of between 3.1-7 million barrels of oil in place, further studies have suggested an upside potential in excess of 14 million barrels.
http://www.interaksyon.com/business/55152/frontier-oil-acquires-contract-covering-calauit-field

Sagittarius Mines finally gets ECC from DENR
By Czeriza Valencia (The Philippine Star) | Updated February 20, 2013 - 12:00am

MANILA, Philippines - The Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) has finally issued an Environmental Compliance Certificate for the $5.9-billion Tampakan copper-gold project of Sagittarius Mine Inc. in Mindanao.

The Office of the President (OP) this month remanded to the DENR the petition filed by SMI for the provision of an ECC, directing the department to rule on the application “without any consideration of requirements other than those imposed under EIS (Environmental Impact Study) System itself.”

The DENR has repeatedly rejected the company’s application for an ECC because of an existing ban in South Cotabato on the use of the open-pit mining method.

An ECC guarantees that a project will not harm the environment.

“There is already an ECC issued but the granting is subject to certain conditions,” said Environment Secretary Ramon Paje in an interview yesterday.

He said failure to comply with the conditions may result to cancellation of the ECC.

...read more (http://www.philstar.com/business/2013/02/20/910797/sagittarius-mines-finally-gets-ecc-denr)


I forgot where I read it but I guess after this I believe SMI has 3 or 4 permits left to attain before they can proceed with the actual project. Sure there's still a couple of hurdles left but this is definitely one big step in the right direction.

Otto Energy bags contract to explore Mindoro basin

Philippine Daily Inquirer
4:54 am | Monday, February 25th, 2013
0 2 0
MANILA, Philippines—Australian firm Otto Energy Ltd. has bagged the contract to explore and develop prospective oil and gas blocks off the Mindoro Cuyo basin, where it plans to invest an initial $500,000 in the first 18-month period.
In a regulatory filing, Otto Energy reported that it was named by the Philippine Department of Energy as the preferred bidder for Area 7 under the fourth Philippine Energy Contracting Round (PECR), which was launched back in 2011.
The formal turnover of the block for exploration and development will take place once Otto Energy signs the final petroleum service contract and submits supporting documentation to the DOE. Upon execution, Otto will commit to reprocessing the existing seismic study with a minimum financial commitment of $500,000 over a period of 18 months.
“I look forward to successfully executing the final Service Contract documents for Area 7. The addition of this new exploration acreage is consistent with our strategy to build an integrated exploration, development and production company focused on Southeast Asia and East Africa,” said Otto chief executive officer Gregor McNab.
“Area 7 has the potential to restock our existing, high impact, exploration prospect inventory that is already feeding our active drilling program through the rest of 2013.”
The bid of Otto Energy for Area 7 was coursed through the company’s local unit, NorAsian Energy Philippines Inc.
Area 7 is an offshore block located at the southern part of the Mindoro Basin–Cuyo Platform, a continental rift basin. It covers around 8,440 square kilometers with depths ranging from 100 meters to 1,300 meters.
According to Otto Energy, there is an existing 2D seismic data set of over 3,000 kilometers covering the block. The petroleum play types identified in Area 7 are reef build-ups, fault blocks and anticlines.
Oil has been discovered with an Extended Production Test conducted in 1994 at the Maniguin wells near the block. The occurrence of oil seepage in the Mindoro region also confirms the presence of an active petroleum system in the area, it added.
The awarding of the service contracts under the PECR 4 is a step toward boosting exploration activities in an underexplored country like the Philippines. Data from the DOE showed that the Philippines has a total potential resource of 8.6 billion barrels of oil equivalent; 3.27 billion barrels of oil; 28.5 trillion cubic feet of gas; and 164 million barrels of condensate.
The PECR 4 was envisioned to address the security of the country’s energy supply through the exploration of local indigenous resources. Harnessing local resources is expected to help the country meet its daily demand and reduce the importation of petroleum and petroleum products.
More importantly, developing the country’s own resources is deemed to be a long-term plan of action that will reduce the country’s dependence on imported petroleum and mitigate the effects of oil price volatility.—Amy R. Remo
http://business.inquirer.net/109281/otto-energy-bags-contract-to-explore-mindoro-basin

Bidding for $2.1B BatMan 1 project delayed anew

he bidding for the first phase of the $2.1-billion Batangas-Manila (BatMan 1) natural gas pipeline project may be delayed anew as the state-run Philippine National Oil Co. (PNOC) has yet to conduct a study to determine the most feasible mode for the project.
According to Zenaida Y. Monsada, director of the Oil Industry Management Bureau at the Department of Energy, PNOC is now preparing for a feasibility study that will look into the merits of various options being considered by the government.
One option is to bid out the BatMan 1 project, a critical infrastructure that can boost the Philippines’natural gas industry, under a public-private partnership (PPP).
Another mode being considered, according to Monsada, is through an official development assistance (ODA), which is defined as a “loan or a grant administered with the objective of promoting sustainable social and economic development and welfare of the Philippines.”
Under the law, ODA resources must be contracted with governments of foreign countries with whom the Philippines has diplomatic, trade relations or bilateral agreements, or which are members of the United Nations, their agencies and international or multilateral lending institutions.
“There are prospective volunteers who can conduct the feasibility study and we’re studying [their proposals],” Monsada told the Inquirer.
“Their offers differ in terms of the timetables as to how long the study will be conducted and the scope of the study. There are groups that have offered to conduct the feasibility study for free but we have to look into their proposals first.”
Once the study is completed, PNOC may already be able to proceed with the bidding for the first phase of the BatMan 1 project, which will involve the construction of the 100-kilometer pipeline.
PNOC has yet to announce whether it will still create a separate subsidiary to be called PNOC Pipeline Corp. (PNOC PC) to handle the operations of the natural gas pipeline.
Based on previous plans, the PNOC PC is expected to bid out the engineering, procurement and construction contract, as well as the technical and maintenance agreement this year. It will take about three years to finish the pipeline.
The second and third phases of the Batman 1 project will involve the construction of the receiving terminal and power plant, respectively.
The Philippine government is bent on pursuing the use of alternative fuels, such as natural gas, given the current global oil price volatility, to which the Philippines is highly vulnerable.
The country sources more than 90 percent of its fuel requirements abroad.
Natural gas has been deemed to be among the more feasible alternatives that will allow the Philippines to diversify its energy and transport fuel sources.

http://business.inquirer.net/109219/bidding-for-2-1b-batman-1-project-delayed-anew

Mitra Energy completes seismic surveys for potential petroleum in Sulu Sea
By: Euan Paulo C. Anonuevo, InterAksyon.com
February 26, 2013 3:15 PM

MANILA - Mitra Energy Ltd of Malaysia has completed the acquisition of seismic surveys in the Sulu Sea.

In a statement, Mitra Energy said it completed 540 square kilometers of 3D seismic surveys, which started in late January, over Service Contract (SC) 56.

The data was acquired by geophysical services company WesternGeco using the survey vessel M/V Western Patriot.

SC 56 covers an oil and gas exploration and development area of 8,200 square kilometers, 900 kilometers southwest of Manila and 200 kilometers northwest of Bongao, the capital of Tawi-Tawi province.

Mitra Energy owns 25 percent of SC 56 in partnership with Total E&P Philippine BV, which controls the remaining 75 percent.

The two earlier agreed to transfer ownership of the contract area to Total for the succeeding drilling activities after Mitra Energy completes the seismic surveys.

The Department of Energy initially estimated the contract area to contain about 750 million barrels of oil equivalent, which could supply the domestic market’s total requirements for seven years.

Mitra Energy's original partner in the exploration block, ExxonMobil Exploration and Production Philippines BV, dropped the project after deeming potential reserves to be of “non-commercial quantities.”
http://www.interaksyon.com/business/55889/mitra-energy-completes-seismic-surveys-for-potential-petroleum-in-sulu-sea

Pampanga quarry collection hits P701 million

CITY OF SAN FERNANDO, Pampanga - The provincial government has already collected a total of P700.9 million in quarry revenue, moving closer to its target collection of P770 million by June this year.

“We are very optimistic we will achieve the target or even go beyond it, based on increased demand. With four months to go, hopefully, we will achieve another milestone when the terms of Governor [Lilia] Pineda and Vice Governor [Joseller] Guiao end June this year,” said Provincial Environment and Natural Resources head, Engineer Art Punsalan.

Punsalan said the support of Pineda’s administration has brought the quarry industry to its all-time peak due to parallel efficiency in operations.

Guiao said the provincial government is working for the computerization of the quarry operations and to institutionalize it so that the real trend and figures will not be altered by whoever rules in the capitol.

By institutionalizing the quarry system, Guiao said the provincial government would maximize its potential with more funds for the delivery of basic services to residents.

The Sangguniang Panlalawigan is conducting a committee hearing on the computerization of the quarry system.

http://www.interaksyon.com/article/56377/pampanga-quarry-collection-hits-p701-million

Sagittarius Mines finally gets ECC from DENR
By Czeriza Valencia (The Philippine Star) | Updated February 20, 2013 - 12:00am



I forgot where I read it but I guess after this I believe SMI has 3 or 4 permits left to attain before they can proceed with the actual project. Sure there's still a couple of hurdles left but this is definitely one big step in the right direction.

The government has to ensure that the Philippines and the host communities will benefit from the operation of this miningb company.

Sumitomo Metal building rare earth recovery plant in Palawan
March 11, 2013 5:35pm

If things go according to plans, the Philippines may start producing rare earth by 2014.

Sumitomo Metal Mining Co. Ltd (SMM) is building a scandium recovery plant in Palawan later this year, and expects the pilot facility to operate in 2014.

“For some time, SMM has been working to develop a scandium recovery method at its Niihama Research Laboratories in Ehime Prefecture,” the company noted on its website.

“This effort has now led to the attainment of technology enabling efficient recovery of scandium from the nickel-cobalt mixed sulfide production process,” SMM said.

A silvery-white metal classified as a rare earth element, scandium is used to enhance the strength and heat and corrosion resistance of aluminum, as well as an electrolyte in solid oxide fuel cells and as an electrode in metal halide lamps and alkaline batteries.

Sumitomo Metal noted that small quantities of scandium are contained in the ore used by its majority-owned subsidiary Coral Bay Nickel Corporation (CBNC) in producing nickel-cobalt mixed sulfide.

Based in Palawan in southwestern Philippines, Coral Bay Nickel produces nickel-cobalt sulfide facility using high-pressure acid leach process or HPAL.

Coral Bay Nickel buys its ore from Rio Tuba Nickel Mining Corp.—majority-owned by listed miner Nickel Asia Corp.

In a disclosure to the Philippine Stock Exchange on Monday, Nickel Asia noted that Surigao del Norte-based Taganito HPAL Nickel Corp. intends to adopt the scandium recovery technology to be piloted by Sumitomo Metal if it proves successful.

Taganito HPAL is majority-owned by SMM and 22.5 percent by Nickel Asia.

“If successful, it will represent the country’s first production of a rare earth element, an important step in the development of the Philippines’ mineral resources,” Nickel Asia claimed.

Trial production at 10 kilograms (kg) per month will start sometime in 2014, according to Sumitomo Metal.

Test results of the pilot plant will guide the company in deciding whether to build a scandium oxide production facility in commercial quantities and the launch a related business in 2015.

According to Sumitomo Metals, global production of scandium is estimated at 10 tons per year with China, Russia, Ukraine, and the United States as major producers of the rare earth element.


http://www.gmanetwork.com/news/story/298770/economy/agricultureandmining/sumitomo-metal-building-rare-earth-recovery-plant-in-palawan

Daming good news dito lalo yung mga oil prospects and mineral processing plant!:):cheers:

Sumitomo Metal building rare earth recovery plant in Palawan
March 11, 2013 5:35pm

If things go according to plans, the Philippines may start producing rare earth by 2014.

Sumitomo Metal Mining Co. Ltd (SMM) is building a scandium recovery plant in Palawan later this year, and expects the pilot facility to operate in 2014.

“For some time, SMM has been working to develop a scandium recovery method at its Niihama Research Laboratories in Ehime Prefecture,” the company noted on its website.

“This effort has now led to the attainment of technology enabling efficient recovery of scandium from the nickel-cobalt mixed sulfide production process,” SMM said.

A silvery-white metal classified as a rare earth element, scandium is used to enhance the strength and heat and corrosion resistance of aluminum, as well as an electrolyte in solid oxide fuel cells and as an electrode in metal halide lamps and alkaline batteries.

Sumitomo Metal noted that small quantities of scandium are contained in the ore used by its majority-owned subsidiary Coral Bay Nickel Corporation (CBNC) in producing nickel-cobalt mixed sulfide.

Based in Palawan in southwestern Philippines, Coral Bay Nickel produces nickel-cobalt sulfide facility using high-pressure acid leach process or HPAL.

Coral Bay Nickel buys its ore from Rio Tuba Nickel Mining Corp.—majority-owned by listed miner Nickel Asia Corp.

In a disclosure to the Philippine Stock Exchange on Monday, Nickel Asia noted that Surigao del Norte-based Taganito HPAL Nickel Corp. intends to adopt the scandium recovery technology to be piloted by Sumitomo Metal if it proves successful.

Taganito HPAL is majority-owned by SMM and 22.5 percent by Nickel Asia.

“If successful, it will represent the country’s first production of a rare earth element, an important step in the development of the Philippines’ mineral resources,” Nickel Asia claimed.

Trial production at 10 kilograms (kg) per month will start sometime in 2014, according to Sumitomo Metal.

Test results of the pilot plant will guide the company in deciding whether to build a scandium oxide production facility in commercial quantities and the launch a related business in 2015.

According to Sumitomo Metals, global production of scandium is estimated at 10 tons per year with China, Russia, Ukraine, and the United States as major producers of the rare earth element.


http://www.gmanetwork.com/news/story/298770/economy/agricultureandmining/sumitomo-metal-building-rare-earth-recovery-plant-in-palawan
"IF" pa lang po yan. You don't know how hard it is to extract that rare earth metal! Please take notice of the phrase "if successful".

Japan cracks seabed 'ice gas' in dramatic leap for global energy

Japan has extracted natural "ice" gas from methane hydrates beneath the sea off its coasts in a technological coup, opening up a super-resource that could meet the country's gas needs for the next century and radically change the world's energy outlook.


http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/newsbysector/energy/9924836/Japan-cracks-seabed-ice-gas-in-dramatic-leap-for-global-energy.html

--------


Good news to satin since nasa atin na ang Benham Rise. Paturo nalang tayo sa mga Japanese kung paano nila nagawa.

MGB lifts moratorium on mining permit applications

The Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) has lifted the moratorium on applications for mining permits it imposed two years ago.

Starting Monday, March 18, the department's Mines and Geosciences Bureau (MGB) will again be accepting applications for Exploration Permits (EPs) and Financial or Technical Assistance Agreements (FTAAs).

Environment Secretary Ramon Paje approved the memorandum dated March 7 and submitted by MGB Director Leo Jasareno seeking an end to the moratorium.

The moratorium was imposed in January 2011 as the DENR ordered the MGB to review pending and inactive mining projects in the country.

The suspension covered applications for EPs, FTAAs, and Mineral Production Sharing Agreements (MPSAs).

An MPSA is a mineral agreement (MA) in which the government shares in the production of the contractor. Applications for MPSAs are still not allowed as Executive Order No. 79, the new mining policy issued last year, stipulates that "no new mineral agreements (MA) shall be entered into until a legislation rationalizing existing revenue sharing schemes and mechanisms shall have taken effect."

An FTAA is a mining right granted for large-scale operation, development and utilization of minerals. It allows 100-percent foreign ownership of a venture, with 50-50 revenue-sharing with the government.

EPs may now be issued because the MGB has completed the mapping of no-go zones—areas where mining activities are prohibited or restricted because they are dedicated solely to agriculture and tourism activities or are protected areas. EO 79 required the no-go zones to be mapped before EPs could be issued.

The Chamber of Mines of the Philippines (COMP) welcomed the lifting of the moratorium. “[It] is indicative that government has laid the groundwork required under Executive Order No. 79 to promote the rational exploration, development, and utilization of the country’s mineral resources. It also shows that government is responding to the mining industry's call for a stable policy and investment environment needed by investors," it said.
http://www.gmanetwork.com/news/story/299341/economy/agricultureandmining/mgb-lifts-moratorium-on-mining-permit-applications

Mining reform bill a priority - Purisima
MANILA, Philippines - The mining reform bill is among the list of priority measures that the Aquino administration will push for in the next Congress, according to Finance Secretary Cesar Purisima.

"We're focusing on several bills. The mining, we will push for it," Purisima said in an interview on Rappler's #TalkThursday Monday, April 1.

The Mining Industry Coordinating Council (MICC), the agency tasked to finalize the provisions of the bill, aims to finish the draft before the May elections. The Department of Finance and the Department of Trade and Industry are still finalizing a new revenue-sharing scheme between government and mining firms.

The new revenue scheme is one of the contentious provisions of the Aquino administration's mining policy, Executive Order 79.

Before the EO, various mining reform bills were pending in Congress. In the House of Representatives, a consolidated version sought to increase government share in mining revenues to 10% from 2%.

Purisima said raising government's share is in line with their stand on environment protection and responsible mining.

snipped...
http://www.rappler.com/business/special-report/whymining/whymining-latest-stories/25284-mining-reform-bill-priority-congress-purisima

Pangilinan steps down as Philex CEO but remains chairman
ABS-CBNnews.com
Posted at 04/04/2013 11:29 AM | Updated as of 04/04/2013 11:30 AM

Philex Mining Corp. on Thursday elected Eulalio B. Austin, Jr. as the firm's new chief executive officer, replacing Manuel V. Pangilinan, who remains as the company's chairman.

Austin is currently the miner's president and chief operating officer, Philex said in a statement.

"He was nominated by ... [Pangilinan], who relinquished the CEO position in favor of Austin," Philex said.

"The separation of the positions of chairman and of CEO is consistent with the company's manual on corporate governance which provides that the positions of chairman and of CEO should, as practicable, be separate," the firm continued.

Here (http://www.abs-cbnnews.com/business/04/04/13/pangilinan-steps-down-philex-ceo-remains-chairman)

The Philippines should be careful about this but if successful, this will be a blessings for both countries.


Philippines sends team to secure Chinese assistance in rare earth elements exploration


By: Orti Despuez, InterAksyon.com
April 22, 2013 11:04 PM

Photo from cnbc.com


InterAksyon.com
The online news portal of TV5

MANILA – The Philippines next month will send a team to China to secure Beijing’s commitment to assist Manila in the development of rare earth elements (REE), the so-called “metals of the future” because of their use in weapons and space-age technologies.

Mines and Geosciences Bureau (MGB) director Leo Jasareno said the Philippine team will fly to Naning on May 8 to meet with the China Geological Service (CGS).

“We want to open up the topic with CGS. That’s why we’re going to send representatives to be led by the MGB assistant director,” Jasareno said.

The Philippines is tapping China’s expertise, since the mainland controls 97 percent of the world’s REE supply. Demand for REE has risen after China began restricting exports of the commodities.

The Philippine delegation’s trip to China comes nearly a year after a team from CGS cancelled its visit to Manila. The visit was aimed at drawing up the terms of reference for REE exploration in the Philippines.

The cancellation happened shortly after a territorial row erupted between Manila and Beijing over the West Philippine Sea. The Philippines has since elevated the conflict before the United Nations.

Even without the assistance from CGS, the MGB has identified mining tenements – especially those containing copper and gold – that may also harbor reserves of REE.

The MGB’s initial survey pinpointed the provinces of Palawan and Nueva Vizcaya.




http://www.interaksyon.com/article/60056/philippines-sends-team-to-secure-chinese-assistance-in-rare-earth-elements-exploration

Smuggling raps ordered vs. oil firm exec, Customs broker
April 25, 2013 6:50pm

The Department of Justice (DOJ) has recommended the filing of smuggling charges against the president of an oil firm and a Customs broker for alleged illegal importation of petroleum products.

Prosecutor General Claro Arellano said the DOJ found probable cause to file charges against Phoenix Petroleum President and Chief Executive Officer Dennis Ang Uy and Custom broker Jorlan Cabanes.

Arellano said the case stemmed from "allegations of unlawful and fraudulent importation of gasoil, unleaded gasoline, and petroleum products at Port of Davao and Sub-Port of Bauan, Batangas." The illegal importation allegedly happened between June 2010 to April 2011.

Arellano said the two were being charged for "having personal knowledge and direct participation in the operations of Phoenix Petroleum, including the processing and release of shipments that were already abandoned in favor of the government."

On January 14, 2012, the DOJ dismissed the smuggling complaint filed by the Bureau of Customs (BOC) against the oil company. On November 16, 2012, the DOJ affirmed on automatic review the January ruling. However, in an April 24 resolution, the DOJ resolved the BOC's motion for reconsideration and reversed the two earlier rulings.

Read full story (http://www.gmanetwork.com/news/story/305579/economy/companies/smuggling-raps-ordered-vs-oil-firm-exec-customs-broker?utm_source=GMANews&utm_medium=Twitter&utm_campaign=GMANewsTwitter)

The Philippines should be careful about this but if successful, this will be a blessings for both countries.


Philippines sends team to secure Chinese assistance in rare earth elements exploration


By: Orti Despuez, InterAksyon.com
April 22, 2013 11:04 PM

Photo from cnbc.com




http://www.interaksyon.com/article/60056/philippines-sends-team-to-secure-chinese-assistance-in-rare-earth-elements-exploration

There is something fishy about or government....

Why not tap the Japanese instead or perhaps the US... :ohno:

if we leave it to the Chinese, they will smuggle it outside the Philippines like how they smuggle out our other minerals and sometimes, literally, our soil. :ohno:

or maybe, baka sasabihin nila territoryo nila based on history once napagalalman ang isang lugar eh malaki ang deposit ng rare earth...

Otto Energy sees higher production at Galoc oil field in 4Q

http://www.interaksyon.com/assets/images/articles/interphoto_1358411147.jpg

MANILA - The operator of the Galoc field expects to boost oil production by the fourth quarter of the year.

In a report, Otto Energy Ltd said drilling operations and the installation of necessary equipment should allow the Galoc field to churn out additional oil in the fourth quarter.

Production from its two wells should increase from an average 4,750 barrels per day to 12,000 barrels per day under its second development phase, the Australian company said.

The project involves the drilling of two new subsea wells in the oil field, which started production in 2008.
http://www.interaksyon.com/business/60682/otto-energy-sees-higher-production-at-galoc-oil-field-in-4q

2012 metal output down 18% (http://www.rappler.com/business/29457-2012-metal-output)


MANILA, Philippines - The suspension of several mine operations and the decline in the central bank's gold purchases pulled down the country's metal production by 18.04% in 2012.

Data from the Mines and Geosciences Bureau (MGB) showed metal production value in 2012 reached P100.798 billion, down from P122.984 billion in 2011.

(snipped)

OceanaGold’s Didipio mine reaches commercial production
http://www.philstar.com/business/2013/05/18/943260/oceanagolds-didipio-mine-reaches-comml-production

Australian miner OceanaGold Corp. announced yesterday that production in its Didipio copper-gold mine in Nueva Vizcaya has reached commercial production level as of April 1.

The mine was commissioned in December, with the ore process plant throughput rate placed at 2.4 million tons per annum (mtpa). This will be ramped up to a capacity of 3.5 mtpa by the end of 2014.

“This marks the official start to a very important chapter for OceanaGold as we transition into a multinational gold producer,” said Mick Wilkes, OceanaGold managing director and CEO.

The Didipio mine is expected to produce 50,000-70,000 ounces of gold and 15,000-18,000 tons of copper this year.

There is something fishy about or government....

Why not tap the Japanese instead or perhaps the US... :ohno:

if we leave it to the Chinese, they will smuggle it outside the Philippines like how they smuggle out our other minerals and sometimes, literally, our soil. :ohno:

or maybe, baka sasabihin nila territoryo nila based on history once napagalalman ang isang lugar eh malaki ang deposit ng rare earth...

I read the article at ang sabi China control 97 percent of the world’s REE supply so meaning they are the expert mas advance sila pag dating sa REM kahit compare sa Japan at US. So its just ordinary and logical na if we want to learn we ask the real expert.... di naman cguro pwede na pag gusto mo matutu kung paano mag mina ng ginto sa magbabalot ako mag tatanong kung paano LOL ang layo.:lol::lol::lol: Di naman porque advance ang Japan at USA expert na sila sa lahat ng bagay.

I read the article at ang sabi China control 97 percent of the world’s REE supply so meaning they are the expert mas advance sila pag dating sa REM kahit compare sa Japan at US. So its just ordinary and logical na if we want to learn we ask the real expert.... di naman cguro pwede na pag gusto mo matutu kung paano mag mina ng ginto sa magbabalot ako mag tatanong kung paano LOL ang layo.:lol::lol::lol: Di naman porque advance ang Japan at USA expert na sila sa lahat ng bagay.

They control 97 percent of REM not because they are advance in that field but because they can produce it cheaply.

They control 97 percent of REM not because they are advance in that field but because they can produce it cheaply.

they can produce it cheaply bakit kaya? bakit other countries cant produce it cheaply? bakit Brazil can't produce it cheaply bakit India can't produce it cheaply? kasi alam ko beside China, Brazil and India are also producing pero they count for only 2% eh cheap labor din naman ang mga bansang yan at malaki din lupa nila. So ano ang alam ng China na di alam ng india at Brazil? Kaya mag okay paturo tayo sa China how to produce it cheaply kasi jan sila magaling.They can produce cheaply tapos di advance? anong klaseng logic naman yan...

...Japan, which itself uses about half of these rare earth metals, plans to explore and study the deposits for up to two years before even attempting to mine them from the seabed in the Pacific. And Japan will still need to send the rare metals to China for refining because no one else has built the necessary manufacturing facilities yet.

siguro naman na iintindihan mo yan?

http://www.usnews.com/news/blogs/at-the-edge/2013/04/02/chinas-continuing-monopoly-over-rare-earth-minerals

they can produce it cheaply bakit kaya? bakit other countries cant produce it cheaply? bakit Brazil can't produce it cheaply bakit India can't produce it cheaply? kasi alam ko beside China, Brazil and India are also producing pero they count for only 2% eh cheap labor din naman ang mga bansang yan at malaki din lupa nila. So ano ang alam ng China na di alam ng india at Brazil? Kaya mag okay paturo tayo sa China how to produce it cheaply kasi jan sila magaling.They can produce cheaply tapos di advance? anong klaseng logic naman yan...

...Japan, which itself uses about half of these rare earth metals, plans to explore and study the deposits for up to two years before even attempting to mine them from the seabed in the Pacific. And Japan will still need to send the rare metals to China for refining because no one else has built the necessary manufacturing facilities yet.

siguro naman na iintindihan mo yan?

http://www.usnews.com/news/blogs/at-the-edge/2013/04/02/chinas-continuing-monopoly-over-rare-earth-minerals

For these economic and obvious national security reasons, the U.S. and other global powers have begun to build their own mines to extract these rare minerals. Those mines in the U.S., Australia, Brazil, Canada, Vietnam and Malawi should be operational in less than five years, which should lessen concerns over China's monopoly a bit.

ayan galing din yan source mo, isipin mo nga bakit pa mag-aaksaya ng panahon at research ang ibang bansa kung yung mina ng REM sa kanila
ay kakaunti.

And Japan will still need to send the rare metals to China for refining because no one else has built the necessary manufacturing facilities yet.

New discoveries are likely to change the situation some. Researchers in Japan recently announced they had discovered large deposits of the types of rare earth materials that are used in any number of commercial and military weapons systems. The rare metals that Japan found off the country's Pacific coast appear to be both abundant and cheap to mine.

Because of the discovery of large amount of REM from Japan, expect a competition not today, but in one or two years.

Naiintindihan mo ba?

For these economic and obvious national security reasons, the U.S. and other global powers have begun to build their own mines to extract these rare minerals. Those mines in the U.S., Australia, Brazil, Canada, Vietnam and Malawi should be operational in less than five years, which should lessen concerns over China's monopoly a bit.

ayan galing din yan source mo, isipin mo nga bakit pa mag-aaksaya ng panahon at research ang ibang bansa kung yung mina ng REM sa kanila
ay kakaunti.

And Japan will still need to send the rare metals to China for refining because no one else has built the necessary manufacturing facilities yet.

New discoveries are likely to change the situation some. Researchers in Japan recently announced they had discovered large deposits of the types of rare earth materials that are used in any number of commercial and military weapons systems. The rare metals that Japan found off the country's Pacific coast appear to be both abundant and cheap to mine.

Because of the discovery of large amount of REM from Japan, expect a competition not today, but in one or two years.

Naiintindihan mo ba?

exactly kaw yata ang di nakaintindi LOL China has all the facility and knowhow when it comes ro REM so why not ask for their help if they are willing to help na? why go to Japan or US? I mean find me an article that say China is not the expert when it comes ro REM. if you can find one then i rest my case.

exactly kaw yata ang di nakaintindi LOL China has all the facility and knowhow when it comes ro REM so why not ask for their help if they are willing to help na? why go to Japan or US? I mean find me an article that say China is not the expert when it comes ro REM. if you can find one then i rest my case.

for raping our natural resources at nakawin nila. Pilipino kaba. BOGOK. binubuli kna at aagawan ng isla mag tiwala kapa. dapat sa kanila bitayin..bobo

hindi naman sya b*b*
baka pa impress lang feeling matalino o baka malala pa doon:D toinks:D

Two task forces to boost illegal logging campaign
By Elsa S. Subong
Thursday 23rd of May 2013

Two task forces to combat illegal logging in the province of Iloilo have been created and are now in full force.

The Iloilo Provincial Anti-Illegal Logging Task Force was created alongside the Regional Anti-Illegal Logging Task Force to firm up collaboration with several agencies to strengthen the campaign against illegal logging.

DENR Regional Executive Director Adeluisa Siapno said the provincial task force will complement the efforts of the regional task force, to protect the resources within forestlands from destruction.

“This is a strategic move we are making to further protect our forest resources. It is more than just complying with what the law requires of us,” Siapno said.

The task force members, namely the provincial environment and natural resources offices of the DENR regionwide, the provincial offices of the Department of the Interior and Local Government, Philippine National Police and the 82nd and 61st Infantry Battalion of the Philippine Army, signed a memorandum of agreement witnessed by the members of the regional task force last May 20.

The task forces are expected to enforce the moratorium on cutting and harvesting of timber in natural and residual forests, as provided for by Executive Order 23 signed by President Aquino in February 2011.

Environment Secretary Ramon Paje said the success of the National Greening Program is being complemented by intensified operations against illegal logging, which is now also the focus of the military.

here (http://www.pia.gov.ph/news/index.php?article=911369275017)