A HIGH-PROFILE delegation from the Chamber of Mines of the Philippines is expected to help the government seal up to $3 billion in mining investments and mineral-supply contracts with Chinese firms during President Aquino’s state visit to China next week.

Not only that, Chamber of Mines President Philip Romualdez said the Philippines will use the China trip to build the confidence of the international investment community in the country’s readiness for big-time mining projects and clear up the confusion created by local government ordinances banning certain types of mineral-extraction methods.

“Our target is to forge greater confidence for investors who want to participate in Philippine mining projects, and to show that the Philippine government is serious and supportive of its development. So my immediate objective is for confidence-building to take place,” Romualdez said at a forum organized by the BusinessMirror, dwIZ and the Philippines Graphic on Thursday.

He said at least six Philippine mining companies would be represented at the China visit, including Manuel V. Pangilinan of Philex Mining Corp. and Salvador Zamora of Oriental Vision Mining Corp. and Hinatuan Mining Corp.

Tycoon Lucio Tan’s MacroAsia Corp. will also be represented, along with two other companies.

When asked on Thursday, Pangilinan said he wasn’t sure yet if he would join the business delegation to China.

Besides representing his company, Benguet Mining Corp., Romualdez said he was also asked by Trade Undersecretary Cristino Panlilio, who is also the managing head of the Board of Investments, to make a presentation on the prospects in the Philippine mining industry, including the $16 billion worth of projects that are ready to take in investors.

“We have some companies that are going there [China] and they are looking to forge more agreements. I know of one or two [contracts] that are ready to be signed, and some will continue discussions,” he said.

Besides the capital infusion, Romualdez said China is important to the Philippines in terms of being a direct market for minerals and the new technology that it has developed for processing.

“There are many advances in technology and processing that are taking place in China. Even the lower-grade minerals, they managed to make them productive and valuable. You see that in the case of nickel, coal, steel fabrication, TIG iron. They have made marked improvements in processing technology,” he said.

China, Romualdez said, has been showing strong interest in the Philippine mining sector.

Jinchuan Group Ltd., he said, has signed the contract already with Philnico Mining and Industrial Corp. for the Nonoc mines in Surigao at $1.6 billion, besides pursuing two different nickel-processing plants at $300 million each.

Aside from the breakout sessions and business-matching meetings with the Chinese firms that have been prepared by the Department of Trade and Industry, the companies are also arranging meetings on their own.

Romualdez said the Chamber of Mines is using its agreement with the China Mining Association in providing information to prospective Chinese investors, who are very interested in minerals such as copper and nickel.

“There is no reason we can’t capture $2 billion to $3 billion from China,” he said.

The visit to China, Romualdez said, will help the industry do better in the second half of the year in terms of mineral output, exports value and investments.

The industry, he said, generates about $4 billion in annual export revenues, remits to the government $1 billion annually, contributes 3 percent of gross domestic product and 8 percent of the foreign exchange.

With the huge contribution of the mining sector to the economy, Romualdez said local government executives should be more sensitive in flexing their muscles in the guise of ordinances that ban some types of mining methods. He said mining firms in areas such as Romblon, Zamboanga and South Cotabato are now encountering problems with local government units (LGUs).

Although the Department of Justice has already issued opinions, laws like the Mining Act of 1995 cannot be derailed by local ordinances, he said. The national government, including the Department of Environment and Natural Resources and the Department of the Interior and Local Government, need to make definitive and categorical statements pushing responsible large-scale mining, he said.

Romualdez said there is no doubt that the noise against mining operations from LGUs and civic groups is turning off the international financing community.

“We are pushing large projects that require financing. If we are so noisy about it, it turns off the international financing community, it gets them nervous. So no matter how attractive the Philippines is—we are always in the Top 10 in terms of resources—but when it comes to actual mining, we are at the bottom 10 because of all the noise,” he said.

Romualdez said the international mining conference that the Philippines will host in September is another good venue for the government to reiterate its policy and get the right message across to mining investors, especially now that mineral prices continue to command premium prices.

“We have a window of opportunity now, let us not blow it. It is our time, otherwise we’re gonna have to wait for the next cycle, and we don’t know when that will happen,” he said.  

(With Jonathan Mayuga)