World’s Top Nickel Shipper Vows No Retreat on Mine Shutdowns

The environment secretary leading a drive to shut more than half of the Philippines’s metallic mines says there’ll be no going back in the world’s top nickel shipper, and she expects President Rodrigo Duterte to back the crackdown even as the industry warns it’ll hit the economy. Prices rose. “I want the land to heal,” Gina Lopez said in an interview in Quezon City near the capital on Monday, adding that she isn’t supportive of any new new mining ventures in the mineral-rich country. “They’ve been mining the land for years and the people are still poor. So give it a break. It hasn’t worked for 100 years. Give it a break and let’s try something else.”
The Southeast Asian nation, which accounts for about a quarter of global mined nickel supply, has been auditing the industry since last year to check on compliance with environmental and welfare rules, spurring concern exports will be hit. Last week, Lopez announced that her department will close 23 mines and suspend a further five. The move roiled nickel prices, and spurred warnings from the nation’s industry that it’ll risk more than 1 million jobs.
“He doesn’t know all the technicalities,” Lopez said, referring to Duterte. “So I am presenting to the cabinet tomorrow, and where it concerns the welfare of the people, I don’t see it changing. He is what he is. He doesn’t like his people to suffer. And when he finds out that his people are suffering, his response is immediate and he wants to fix it right away.”

Nickel Whipsawed

Nickel has been whipsawed by developments in the Philippines. It surged on the London Metal Exchange on Thursday as Lopez’s plan was announced, and closed at $10,395 a ton, the highest since Jan. 13, before dropping 1.6 percent on Friday when miners pushed back. On Monday, the metal advanced 1.5 percent to $10,380 at 7:21 p.m. in Manila.
Duterte said last year after the probe got under way that mining companies should follow local rules or the country would manage without them, saying: “You obey or we will survive as a nation without you.” After Lopez ordered the wave of closures last week, he again signaled his backing, telling an audience that he supports Lopez’s orders on the shutdowns.

Chamber’s Warning

The Chamber of Mines of the Philippines has appealed to Duterte to review Lopez’s recent actions, saying that the mine- closure plan was done without fairness or legality. If implemented, it would leave $22 billion worth of investment in limbo and condemn more than 1.2 million people to poverty, the chamber said in a statement.
Banks are split on the significance of the move. While UBS Group AG said the potential loss of output from the Philippines may be offset by increased cargoes from Indonesia as that
country resumes exports, Australia & New Zealand Banking Group Ltd. warned the impact will far outweigh any potential overseas sales from Indonesia.
“I’m not keen on any new mining: any new mining I approve is putting that community at risk forever and a day,” said Lopez, who was appointed as environment chief after Duterte’s
win last year. “The mining areas are all poor. If they really work how come wherever they are, people are poor?”