Angeline D.

Plaza
11- Florencio
September 18, 2019
Position Paper
“Protect, Preserve, and Prosper! ”

The Philippines is the home for many minerals like gold, nickel, copper, and chromite. And is the hearth
to the largest copper-gold deposit in the whole world. With this being said, being a country rich in minerals
come with opportunities and obstacles. The mining industry in the Philippines can improve and worsen the
country at the same time. Mining is great for the economy considering it yields a huge amount of revenue
which helps the development of our country. However, mining is terrible for the environment because it
causes loss of biodiversity, erosion, contamination of surface water, ground water, and soil. That is why I stand
where the Earth will be preserved and cared. And yes, we cannot deny the benefits that mining provides yet
the damages it makes are irreversible.

Mining helps the value of the economy to increase. According to Philip Romualdez the president of the
Chamber of Mines, 42 percent of the value of all the minerals found and produced in the Philippines goes to
the government in the approach of taxes and other charges. It also provides valuable employment and
opportunities to the provinces, an official of Philex Mining Corporation said. Furthermore, mining projects
allocate part of their operating fund on social development and management projects, also building roads,
bridges, and power supply in remote areas according to Attorney Michael Toledo.

Sadly, as much as mining helps the economy it destructs the environment. Mineral resources are non-
renewable, with this being said mining is faced with the sustainability issue. These heavy metals like sulfur
dioxide also harms us by polluting the air caused by unsafe smelter operations with lacking safeguards. Coal
mines release methane which contributes environmental issues since it contains greenhouse gas. Toxins like
cyanide and mercury are used to remove minerals and those toxins will permanently pollute the water,
making it difficult for the livelihood of the fishermen. And of course mining practices leads to erosion, this
erosion will lead to the destruction of rivers and other bodies of water. It also destroys animal and human
habitats and ecosystem. In addition, mining causes loss of agriculture and livelihood giving citizens extreme
stress.

Overall, it may be said that mining cannot be abolished but it can be controlled at the current moment.
We can lessen the impact of mining by the means of new mining technologies, these techniques are more
environmentally sensitive. Like by shutting down illegal and unregulated mines, choosing environmentally
friendly mining processes (green mining), and by the research and development of Green Mining Technology.
With the potential that our technology holds, future alternatives will be available sooner or later. We have
also mined a lot of minerals that are beyond adequate and not all of those are still being used everyday, we
can recycle these minerals instead of mining new minerals. Via the technology and knowledge we have today I
am sure that we can solve and lessen the impact of mining as long as we put our effort and passion in saving
our beloved planet. I would also like to see our country to conduct researches that aim to lessen and hopefully
annihilate mining activities in the future. Keep in mind that the economic value that we gain through mining
will be useless if we do not have an economy anymore. We are dependent to Earth not the other way around.
Once again let us protect, preserve, and prosper this Earth!