Dire consequences

There is now a proposal in Congress to ban raw mineral exports from the Philippines to pave the way for the development of local industries, but the local mining industry is against it.

- MARY ANN LL. REYES

Senate Bill 2826 or the Enhanced Fiscal Regime for Large-Scale Metallic Mining bill, which has been approved on third and final reading by the Senate on Feb. 3, proposes a ban on exports of locally extracted raw minerals similar to what Indonesia put in place in 2020 when it stopped the exportation of nickel ore and the bauxite in 2022.

The ban will take effect five years after its implementation.

According to Senate President Francis Escudero, what they are looking at is a shift in the country's policy from merely exporting raw minerals that will be utilized by other countries to produce higher value products to developing the Philippines' own processing capabilities, resulting in added value for minerals-related exports.

The five-year period, Escudero said, is meant to provide mining operators time to establish processing plants and downstream industries.

The minerals being considered for export ban include gold, copper, nickel and iron.

Escudero noted that the prohibition on exports of critical minerals is a global trend and that according to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, between 2009 and 2020, around 53 countries have instituted export prohibitions on critical minerals.

The Philippines is one of the world's biggest producers of nickel ore, supplying most of its output to China and Indonesia. Demand for critical minerals such as nickel and copper, Escudero said, has increased over the past decades as a result of the development of green initiatives such as the production of electric vehicles, since nickel and copper are key components in the production of lithium batteries of EVs.

Nickel is also a key material in stainless steel.