Tuesday, November 06, 2007 DavOr no longer issuing permits for small miners By Carlo P. Mallo
THE Mines and Geosciences Bureau (MGB)-Southern Mindanao clarified Monday that Davao Oriental provincial government has not ordered a stop on small-scale mining operations.
Rather, it has merely imposed a moratorium on the issuance of new permits.
"It's not about the existing small scale miners," said MGB-Southern Mindanao Director Ed Arreza said in Monday's Kapehan sa Dabaw at Pizza Hut restaurant in SM City Davao.
It was earlier reported that the Davao Oriental Governor Corazon N. Malanyaon has issued a moratorium on all small-scale mining activities in the province. Davao Oriental is rich with mineral deposits and ranks next to Compostela Valley in terms of mineral deposits in the region.
Moreover, Arreza added that the province is implementing a two-door exit for all mining related materials.
"Mining firms can only pass through the Maragusan and Pantukan exits," Arreza said.
Arreza said that the two-door exit policy of the provincial government is one way of eradicating the proliferation of black market in mining in the region.
It is a well known that some mining companies would rather smuggle out the minerals that they have mined directly to foreign countries.
