Filipino tribe protests against nickel mining venture

Members of a Filipino tribe are protesting after the country’s second richest businessman agreed to enter a joint mining venture on the island of Palawan. Survival Interational, the NGO which campaigns for the rights of tribal people, says the agreement signed between Lucio Tan’s MacroAsia Corporation and China’s Jinchuan Group, furthers plans to mine for nickel on the Palawan’s ancestral land.

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Palawan was in the news recently when the Puerto Princesa subterranean river on the island was chosen as one of the world’s new seven wonders of nature, according to organizers of a global poll conducted via social media. The Philippine government vigorously campaigned for the 8.2 kilometer navigable underground river in a bid to boost tourism. South Korea’s Jeju Island, Indonesia’s Komodo and South Africa’s Table Mountain were also among the list.

Image by Matikas, Wikimedia Commons.