DMCI Mining Corporation said the mining industry is up for better days ahead amid regulatory improvements due to the supportive stance of the Marcos administration.
In an interview with reporters over the weekend, DMCI Mining president Tulsi Das C. Reyes said the improvements in the permitting process are expected to translate to better production of mining companies.
"We have seen some improvements because the administration has been very much supportive of the industry. But in fairness to the Duterte administration, they started that ball rolling," Reyes said.
"There has been a great amount of progression towards this kind of industry so those of you who have seen the nickel industry association programs, forward-thinking, they have always been resourceful and helpful for us to have a game plan rather than have this industry collapsing," he added.
Reyes, however, noted that the industry still needs a unified system for the permitting process so that mining companies can efficiently proceed with their projects.
"We would love to have streamlined permits. I think the Department of Energy is setting the bar with a one-stop shop and if we can replicate that with the same ideals, that would be good," he explained.
The Philippine Nickel Industry Association or PNIA, the largest group composed of the country's nickel industry players, had also proposed the establishment of a "one-stop shop" program to expedite permitting processes in the mining industry.
Once implemented, the streamlined process would significantly cut the tedious permitting process that could take as long as five to 10 years to just six months to a year.
It can be recalled that DMCI Mining had already signified optimism that 2023 would be a banner year for the company, especially after its subsidiary Zambales Diversified Metals Corporation, or ZMDC was allowed to expand its production.
ZMDC was granted an Environmental Compliance Certificate in January to increase its production to 2 million wet metric tons of nickel ore, from 1 million WMT before.
DMCI Mining thus targets to complete a 1.5 million WMT nickel ore shipment by the end of the year.