THE domestic mining industry might stop operations if the Iran war continues to disrupt fuel supply, the head of a major mining firm said on Thursday.
“If there’s no contingency ... [amid fuel scarcity], is mining a priority? I personally don’t think so ... because we have to take care of the people first,” DMCI Mining Corp. President Tulsidas Reyes said at a media briefing hosted by the Philippine Nickel Industry Association.
“A shutdown would happen,” Reyes predicted.
The full effects of the Middle East conflict will be felt in the next 45 to 60 days, since mining companies work on a 15- to 30-day fuel supply buffer, Reyes said.
“This creates anxiety. We don’t know where [the fuel for] the next 60 to 90 days of operations will come from,” he added.
“We don’t have a contingency [plan] beyond 30 days,” said Nickel Asia Corp. President Martin Antonio Zamora admitted.
In the meantime, mining firms are trying to find alternative fuel sources, building infrastructure such as fuel tanks and collaborating with neighboring mine sites to mitigate the looming problem, Reyes said.
However, it’s still a “wait-and-see” game as mining officers anticipate, forecast and analyze what they can still do, Reyes added.
“We hope that ... government includes mining as part of the priority [industries] because we are an export business,” said Global Ferronickel President Dante Bravo. “We are going play an important role in stabilizing currencies, our exchange rate and generating jobs in remote areas.”
