Friday, October 27, 2006 Miners seek inventory of deserted mining areas in Benguet By Jane Cadalig
A GROUP of small-scale miners in Benguet on Thursday called on officials of the Department Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) to conduct an inventory of abandoned mineral claims, including mining areas that are no longer operating.
Alleging that several mining companies are just sitting on their mineral claims, Benguet Federation of Small-scale Miners (BFSM) president Lomino Kaniteng said all DENR regional directors should undertake an inventory of all the abandoned mineral claims and inactive mine site in their respective areas of jurisdiction pursuant to the 2004 Department Administrative Order.
Kaniteng pushed for the inventory to determine claims that are not being utilized, so that moves could be done to make these areas productive again.
"The (concerned) officials should comply with the department order so that the abandoned mining areas could be reverted back to public domain," he said.
He criticized the DENR regional office for not submitting reports of (compliance) to the central office.
Small-scale mining is one of the major income providers for the people of Benguet and those coming from other provinces.
At present, there are about 25,000 to 30,000 small-scale miners in the province, including members of the 65 small-scale miners associations.
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