Communicating with people

In the North, theres a certain series of community reach -out I did as part of the project's social acceptability. What I do in my research here is to ensure the health and safety of the concerned stakeholders while promoting economic activities with equal considerations in the environment. Anticipating and responding to community concerns, aspirations, and values regarding our activities is kinda hard. We already have a preconceived notion against mining be it a medium scale or a small scale. I also have my apprehensions before accepting the project. But you see, that's were responsible mining go. Our country's main resource base is its natural resources. The utilization of these resources carries a great potential in the country's economic growth. There is always a choice of producing or importing the minerals, depending on the evolving comparative advantage among economies. This option, however, requires a certain degree of economic maturity that most developing country has yet to achieve. Thus, mining remains as one of the country’s major development option to free itself from the economic deprivation and attain a better quality of life for its people.Given this situation, the country as part of the global economy, must compete for investment capital in order to sustain many of our industries including mining. Geological prospectivity, stable economic and political conditions are some of the major considerations. However, in order to attract investors into the mining sector, a country must create the enabling environment that will allow it to compete with other countries. This is the very essence why the Philippine Mining Act was enacted by Congress - to provide the positive and competitive climate for mining investments with equal consideration for both social and environmental responsibilities.

What I can assure is when doing my report, I will be establishing an environmental management systems consistent with our current standard even if it's only a small scale artisanal mining where the operators will only be needing hammers and shovels to tilt the manganese ore.