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PHILIPPINES

In the wake of the recent ecological disaster caused by the Marcopper Mining Corp, mining companies in the Philippines are bending backwards to convince skeptics that they have adopted green ways of mining. In March, Marcopper was sued for having spilled about three million tonnes of mine waste into a river after a drainage tunnel burst. Public concern about mining has been on the rise since then. Some of the richest mineral deposits in the world are found in the Philippines and since the passing of a new mining law last year, 14 foreign mining concerns have applied for 69 exploration and mining licences. The wmc Ltd, one of the companies that have been granted licences for mining, is going all out to build up a green image. They use vegetable-based polymer as drilling fluid, haul drilling rigs by humanpower to minimise road building and use old logging tracks for roads they have to build.

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