President

As part of the information education campaign of the Chamber of Mines of the Philippines, we have revised our website to be of service not only to our members but all others interested in the development of the Philippine mining industry. Our site will be giving updates on the current situation in the industry, including our calendar of events.
 

The Philippine mining industry has been facing head on, the challenges posed by market conditions, environmental and social concerns. We have endeavored to show that mining can be undertaken following the goals of sustainable development as our counterparts all over the world are doing.

The World Summit on Sustainable Development held in Johannesburg last September 2002 reiterated in the WSSD Plan of Action hat "mining minerals and metals are important to the economic and social development of many countries and that minerals are essential for modern living." The plan further provides for enhancing the contribution of mining, minerals and metals to sustainable development that includes actions at all levels to:

• Support efforts to address the environmental, economic, health and social impacts and benefits of mining, minerals and metals throughout their life cycle.

• Enhance the participation of stakeholders, including local and indigenous communities and women, to play an active role in minerals, metals and mining development throughout the life cycles of mining operations, including after closure for rehabilitation and

• Foster sustainable mining practices through the provision of financial, technical and capacity-building support to developing countries and countries with economies in transition for the mining and processing of minerals, including small-scale mining, and improve value added processing, upgrade scientific and technological information and reclaim and rehabilitate degraded sites.

The poverty reduction program enshrined in the world's summit's program which is also the priority concern of the current administration will increasingly point to wealth creation as a strategy to address poverty. We in the mining industry are hopeful that our government will pave the way for investments to flourish not only in exploration activities but more so in transforming good orebodies into mining operations.

We hope that our new website will contribute in one way or another to the realization of our objectives of creating wealth for the benefits of our people.