MGB approves 27 mining rights in Western Visayas

ILOILO CITY - The Mines and Geosciences Bureau (MGB) of the Department of Environment and Natural Resources 6 has approved a total of 27 mining rights in Western Visayas as of December 31, 2006.
Based on the data obtained from MGB 6 the approved mining rights cover 1.30 percent of the 2,022,311 hectares total land area of the region.
Out of the 27 approved mining rights, 11 are covered by the Mineral Production Sharing Agreement (MPSA), one by the exploration Permit (EP), 7 by the Industrial Sand and Gravel Permit and 8 by the Mining Lease Contract (MLCs).
The province of Negros Occidental has the most number of approved Mineral Production Sharing Agreements with 6, Iloilo with 2 and one each for Capiz, Antique and Guimaras.
The approved Exploration Permit is in Antique covering 1.51 percent of the province's total land area or 0.19 percent of the region's total land area.
The MGB 6 data further showed that out of the 7 approved Sand and Gravel Permits, 6 are in Negros Occidental and 1 is in the province of Aklan.
Aklan has the most number of approved Mining Lease Contracts with 6 and Negros Occidental and Iloilo with one each. The approved MLCs cover about 0.0952% of the region's total land area.
MGB 6 said that the MLCs are mining rights issued before the approval and implementation of the Mining Act of 1995.
Under the Mining Act of 1995, areas covered with approved mining rights are subject to area relinquishment. This requires the mining rights holder/s to relinquish the contract area at the end of the exploration period, and only a maximum of 5,000 hectares or less per project area or 6.17% of the original approved contract area is retained.