|
Philippines Mining
The 1980s were difficult for mining in the Philippines. In
1990 the mining and quarrying sector contributed 1.5 percent of
GNP, approximately half the percentage it had accounted for ten
years earlier. Mineral exports were 5.4 percent of merchandise
trade in 1988, whereas in 1980 they constituted 17.8 percent.
Rising operational costs and a depressed market severely affected
the industry. In 1990 mining operations suffered from labor
disputes, higher mandated wages, higher interest rates, typhoons,
an earthquake, and power shortages.
In the early 1990s, the Philippines had large deposits of
copper, chromium, gold, and nickel, plus smaller deposits of
cadmium, iron, lead, manganese, mercury, molybdenum, and silver.
Industrial minerals included asbestos, gypsum, limestone, marble,
phosphate, salt, and sulfur. Mineral fuels included coal and
petroleum.
In 1988 the Philippines was the sixth largest producer of
chromium in the world and ranked ninth in gold production and
tenth in copper production. The country's nickel-mining company,
Nonoc Mining and Industrial Corporation, ceased operation in
March 1986 because of financial and labor difficulties. The Asset
Privatization Trust, a government entity in charge of selling
firms acquired by the government through foreclosure proceedings,
sold Nonoc in late 1990. The new owners expected to resume
operations in the middle of 1991 and produce some 28,700 tons a
year, which would again make nickel a major export earner for the
Philippines.
Data as of June 1991
|
