‘The United States, Canada, and Australia have made it clear: we are sitting on a considerable, albeit not infinite, amount of critical minerals, and extracting and processing these in a sustainable manner would be good for everyone all around.’
IT was a sign that things were heating up in one area of the commodities market.
Last week, the Ambassador of the United States, Her Excellency MaryKay L. Carlson, together with the Ambassador of the Dominion of Canada, His Excellency David Hartman, and the Ambassador of Australia, Her Excellency HK Yu, jointly hosted a reception in Baguio for representatives of the mining industry of the Philippines. The reception was a prelude to the signing of P280 Million technical assistance for the Philippine Nickel Industry Association (PNIA) from the US and coursed through the UP Public Administration Foundation.
Other signatories to the MOU were the DENR, the DOF, the DTI, and the Chamber of Mines.
While the bigwigs of the local mining industry gathered in Baguio for the annual mine safety and environment conference presented all the metallic and non-metallic minerals being mined in the Philippines, the Excellencies of the three major mining countries were focused on nickel, considered a “critical mineral” in this day and age of transition from fossil fuel energy and internal combustion engines to renewable energy and hybrid or electric vehicles.
And everyone knows that when it comes to nickel, China is the world’s biggest buyer, with Indonesia and the Philippines being the two largest suppliers of ore to China.
Nickel is what goes into most batteries used for hybrid and electric vehicles, and there’s a growing concern in some governments that China’s dominant position in the market poses some strategic threat to the West.
From where I stood (literally at the door of the reception hall of the US Ambassador’s residence on Scout Hill within Camp John Hay) it was clear to me that the US, Canada, and Australia understand how important the mining industry is and why it needs to be supported and encouraged. And that to me is actually what the problem is here — because governments have consistently demonstrated their inability to take the same point of view.
Take Australia for example. I’ve learned from graduates of the UP College of Engineering’s mining course that they can avail of a two-year study visa in Australia, and after that are given time (and incentives) to find employment in Australia’s big mining companies! So yes, you and I, through our tax payments that do not go into the confidential funds of our public officials, are effectively funding the growth and expansion of Australia’s mining industry through the tuition fees of those engineering students!
And can you blame the kids who go abroad, when our own legislators and policymakers and regulators don’t know what they’re doing?
The United States, Canada, and Australia have made it clear: we are sitting on a considerable, albeit not infinite, amount of critical minerals, and extracting and processing these in a sustainable manner would be good for everyone all around.
Let’s hope that those who matter are listening and listening well.
