Nickel miners propose one-stop shop for mining sector

To boost investments, the Philippine Nickel Industry Association (PNIA) is proposing the establishment of a one-stop shop for all bureaucratic permits and processes in the mining sector.

At a press conference during the Nickel Initiative forum in Makati City on Tuesday, PNIA president Dante Bravo said that among the major concerns of nickel industry players is that the timeline for securing permits is not definite.

"The permitting process basically has no timeline and is tedious. You can get from one permit to the other only if you have already finished the first permit," Bravo said.

"If you want to improve the process, you have to have a timeline, meaning those permits can be done simultaneously," he added.

To promote predictability in regulations as well as ease of doing business, the PNIA is discussing with the government the establishment of a one-stop shop program to support the mining sector’s growth.

"As you can see, there are so many permits from exploration, MPSA (mineral production sharing agreement), ECC (environmental clearance certificate), SDMP (social development management program), so if we can streamline, avoid duplicity… it's a lot easier to convince investors that ‘no worries, you can put in $100 billion in investments here,''' Bravo said.

Should permitting and doing business processes for the mining sector ease, the PNIA chief said the Philippines has "a potential to supply beyond 40 million [metric] tons, probably even more."

"That's it... We have a chance to grow the supply here in the Philippines," Bravo said.

Other areas for reform cited by nickel stakeholders include the streamlining of the fiscal regime, harmonization of national and local mining regulations, and monitoring and evaluation of environmental protection laws.  — VBL, GMA Integrated News