Philippine lawmakers to approve bill to ban ore exports

The Philippine Congress could ratify a bill banning raw mineral exports as soon as June, the Senate leader said on Thursday, a plan that investors warn could lead to mine closures.

Congress is on a break after this week and sessions resume in June, but Senate President Francis Escudero hopes there would be a bicameral committee meeting with members from both the Senate and the House of Representatives to tackle the bill. “I’m hoping it will be done during the break so we can ratify it when sessions resume,” Escudero said in a briefing.

The bill aims to ban exports of raw ore in a bid to boost the downstream mining industry. It seeks to impose the ban five years after the law is signed to give miners time to build processing plants.

“If this is done, I believe this will be a game changer for our country if we will have processing finally here,” said Escudero, who authored the bill which the Senate passed on third and final reading on Monday. Previous efforts in Congress to introduce a ban in 2016 and 2014 failed due to lack of support.

The Philippines is the world’s second-largest nickel ore supplier with bulk of its shipments going to top market China. The government has been pushing miners to invest in processing facilities instead of just shipping out raw ore, hoping to replicate No. 1 nickel supplier Indonesia’s success in boosting mining revenue.

Indonesia’s ban on exports of metal ore in 2020 boosted the value of its nickel exports from $3 billion to $30 billion in two years as Chinese companies built refineries and smelters there. The Philippines can follow Indonesia’s lead, according to Escudero, an example of a resource-rich country pushing for more value from its minerals.

“Mineral-wise, the Philippines is a rich country pretending to be poor,” the senator said. Less than 3% of 9 million hectares (22 million acres) of land identified by the government as containing high mineral reserves is currently being mined.

The Chamber of Mines of the Philippines and the Philippine Nickel Industry Association said the proposed export ban “will lead to mine closures” that will “reduce government revenues and economic activities in mining communities.”

“The proposal will cause massive disruptions to existing supply chains; many mining companies have long-term contracts and established supply chains with international buyers,” they said in a statement.

(By Cliff Venzon and Neil Jerome Morales)

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