TEHRAN, September 18 - Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte repeated his call on Monday to shut all mines in the country following deadly landslides, hours after his minister halted all small-scale mining in a mountainous gold-rich region.
TEHRAN, Young Journalists Club (YJC) - "If I were to try to do my thing I will close all mining in the Philippines," he said, presiding over a televised meeting of the government's disaster response team two days after a powerful typhoon struck.
Duterte has often criticized the mining industry, saying the environmental damage far outweighs any benefit to the economy.
His latest comments followed an order earlier by Environment and Natural Resources Secretary Roy Cimatu to stop all small-scale mining in the Cordillera region, where landslides killed 24 people.
"We have a problem with our mining industry. It has not contributed anything substantial to the national economy," Duterte said. Shortly after he assumed office in 2016, he warned all miners to follow tighter environmental rules or to shut down, saying the nation could survive without a mining industry.
Mining accounts for less than 1 percent of the country's gross domestic product, although only 3 percent of the 9 million hectares identified by the state as having high mineral reserves is being mined.
Source: Reuters
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