New mining rules signed

President Benigno Aquino III has approved the final version of the mining rules, which retained the cut in mining contracts’ maximum term from the current 50 years to 25 — a provision that the mining industry has described as “patently illegal.” Presidential Communications Secretary Ricky Carandang said the implementing rules and regulations (IRR) of the government’s policy on mining under Executive Order 79 (EO-79) is “final.” The IRR has 4 most contentious provisions: the term of the mining contract; the no-go areas or those barred from any mining activities; the primacy of national over local laws, and; a no-new-contract policy put in place while the government and the mining firms pursue a revenue-sharing scheme in Congress.

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