PMEA Blog

By Ricarido Saturay Jr.

The mining industry is important to a country’s economic development being a source of raw materials necessary for industrialization. With its abundant mineral resources, the Philippines has a vast potential to industrialize. This has yet to be realized due to the current economic thrusts of the government and the conditions in which the mining industry is being situated in our economy.

The Philippines is rich with mineral resources. We are among the world’s top producers of copper, nickel, chrome, zinc, gold and silver. We have about 7.1 billion metric tons (BMT) of metallic deposits and 51 BMT of non-metallic deposits. As the government claims, the country’s mineral wealth, valued to be from $840 billion to $1 trillion, is about 10 times our gross domestic product and 14 to 17 times our external debt. If judiciously used, these rich mineral resources can be geared to supply the basic needs of our nation to address the economy’s backward, agrarian and pre-industrial state.

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