Posted on February 20, 2012 09:56:19 PM
South Cotabato tops mine revenue in Central Mindanao
KORONADAL -- Revenues of local government units in Central Mindanao from the minerals industry reached P20.3 million last year, with South Cotabato emerging as top earner, a spokesman from the regional Mines and Geosciences Bureau (MGB) said.
Marilyn D. Dicierto, MGB-Region 12 acting information officer, said the province’s collection from mine-related fees amounted to at least P9 million, or 48% of the total revenue collection of the entire region.
"The amount collected by South Cotabato came [mostly] from sand and gravel," she said.
The MGB-Region 1 earned only P831,432 from payments of mining rights, application, registration, permit and certification fees across the region last year.
Earlier, the regional office trashed 51 non-moving mining applications in the region in line with the "use it or lose it policy."
Eighteen others were endorsed to the main office for possible approval.
South Cotabato hosts the massive copper-gold project of Sagittarius Mines, Inc through the town of Tampakan. The project is touted as the largest known undeveloped copper-gold deposit in Southeast Asia.
Aside from the venture of Sagittarius Mines, which is controlled by global mining powerhouse Xstrata, South Cotabato also hosts the gold and silver project of Canadian firm Cadan Resources Corp. in T’boli town.
Siegfred M. Flaviano, South Cotabato’s Provincial Environment Management Office chief, attributed the province’s strong collection performance to intensified monitoring against illegal sand and quarry operators and small-scale mining activities.
The province was expecting to generate P20 million to P30 million this year in mining revenues as a result of the crackdown on illegal operators.
South Cotabato has banned the open-pit mining method, which Sagittarius Mines eyes for its Tampakan project, but excludes sand and quarry activities.
Ms. Dicierto said the revenue boost in South Cotabato may continue in the next years with the anticipated boom in the construction industry due to the transfer of the regional offices of national line agencies to this city, the regional seat of government.
After South Cotabato, Sarangani province earned P4.1 million from mine-related fees, equivalent to 20% of the total regional mining-related revenue collection for the period, the MGB regional office said.
North Cotabato and Sultan Kudarat came in third and fourth at P3.2 million and P1.8 million, respectively, for mine-related collections last year, it added. -- Romer R. Sarmiento
https://www.bworldonline.com/content.php?section=Economy&title=South-Cotabato-tops-mine-revenue-in-Central-Mindanao&id=47071