After years of stalemate, bilyonaryo Lucio Tan has finally made headway on his planned nickel mining project in Brooke’s Point, Palawan.
Tan’s MacroAsia Mining Corp. received the certification precondition from the National Commission on Indigenous Peoples for the mining project covering 1,114 hectares.
The certification precondition is a certificate of compliance to the free, prior and informed consent process, as well as certification that the community has given its consent.
“It is found that MacroAsia Mining has complied with the procedural and documentary requirements, thus the certification precondition for the aforementioned project is approved, subject to the memoranda of agreement entered into by and among the respective duly authorized representative/s of Macroasia Mining, the Palawan ICCs/IPs of Barangays Ipilan Mambalot, Maasin, Barong-barong and Calasaguen and Aribungos, all in the Municipality of Brooke’s Point, Province of Palawan and the National Commission on Indigenous Peoples, the affidavit of undertaking and related documents,” the certification stated.
MacroAsia’s proposed project is located within the ancestral domain of the Palawan Indigenous Cultural Communities/Indigenous Peoples in Barangays Ipilan, Mambalot and Maasin, Municipality of Brooke’s Point, Palawan.
In the 1970s, MacroAsia used to produce nickel in Brooke’s Point, exporting nickel laterite to Sumitomo in Japan. It was eventually forced to close down due to a plunge in nickel prices