MANILA (Reuters) - The Philippines will suspend more of the country’s mines for violating environmental regulations after already halting operations at 10 sites, the mining minister said on Monday, as the government wrapped up a seven-week review.

The Southeast Asian nation, the world’s top nickel ore supplier, launched a review of the country’s 40 metallic mines on July 8. Eight of the 10 suspended so far produced nickel ore, and the closures and the risk of more mines being shuttered lifted nickel prices to a one-year high last month.

Environment and Natural Resources Secretary Regina Lopez declined to say how many more mines will be suspended but told Reuters that “there will absolutely be more suspensions”.

“All the suspensions are absolutely due to environmental reasons, and my particular interest is the wellbeing of the community, that’s my benchmark,” Lopez said in a text message.

“There will be large-scale mines to be suspended,” she told reporters later at a congressional hearing, without disclosing any names.

Three-month nickel on the London Metal Exchange was trading just above $10,000 a tonne on Monday, up about a third from February’s $7,550, its lowest since 2003.

Instead of this week as she had said earlier, Lopez said the additional mine suspensions will be announced next week.

“The audit is done. And it’s important to say that even as we suspend mines, we have put up an area development program. The commitment is in any suspended mines the people there will not lose work,” she said at the congressional hearing.

‘GAPING OPEN HOLES’

Lopez’s stance on mining is backed by President Rodrigo Duterte, who has previously warned miners to strictly follow tighter environmental rules or shut down, saying the nation could survive without a mining industry.

“We have had mining in this country for over a hundred years. And until now we don’t even have one rehabilitated mine site, not one,” Lopez said in the text message.

“Just gaping open holes, destroyed rivers, children with brain disease, so very sad,” she said, referring to sick children in the province of Marinduque, where a 1996 tailings leak at Canadian-owned Marcopper Mining Corp’s copper mine contaminated rivers.

Miners have claimed that the government’s environmental crackdown is a “demolition campaign” against them and have sought a meeting with Duterte.

The Philippines is the top nickel ore supplier to China, shipping 34 million tonnes in 2015. </s> The Southeast Asian nation, the world's top nickel ore supplier, launched a review of the country's 40 metallic mines on July 8 and has so far suspended 10, eight of them producing nickel ore. The closures and the risk of more mines being shuttered lifted nickel prices to a one-year high last month.

Environment and Natural Resources Secretary Regina Lopez declined to say how many more mines will be suspended but told Reuters that "there will absolutely be more suspensions".

"All the suspensions are absolutely due to environmental reasons, and my particular interest is the wellbeing of the community, that's my benchmark," Lopez said in a text message.

Three-month nickel on the London Metal Exchange was trading just above $10,000 a tonne on Monday.

"We have had mining in this country for over a hundred years. And until now we don't even have one rehabilitated mine site, not one," Lopez said in the text message.

"Just gaping open holes, destroyed rivers, children with brain disease, so very sad," she said, referring to sick children in the province of Marinduque where a 1996 tailings leak at Canadian-owned Marcopper Mining Corp's copper mine contaminated rivers.

Her stance on mining is backed by President Rodrigo Duterte who has previously warned miners to strictly follow tighter environmental rules or shut down, saying the nation could survive without a mining industry.

Miners have claimed that the government's environmental crackdown is a "demolition campaign" against them and have sought a meeting with Duterte.

The Philippines is the top nickel ore supplier to China, shipping 34 million tonnes in 2015. </s> MANILA (Reuters) - The Philippines has ordered a review of more than 100 proposals for small-scale mining sites across the country following a landslide that killed 62 people including illegal gold miners, its environment minister said on Tuesday.

The Southeast Asian nation has designated about 18 mining areas for small-scale mining locally known as Minahang Bayan. The areas are subject to rules regulating small-scale mineral extraction to ensure taxes are paid and environmental breaches are prevented.

“We will be stricter in approving Minahang Bayan sites, and affirm whether they conform to standards that are safe especially for the miners,” Environment and Natural Resources Secretary Roy Cimatu said in a statement.

There are more than 100 pending applications for Minahang Bayan, Wilfredo Moncano, the head of the Mines and Geosciences Bureau, told reporters.

The order comes a day after Cimatu halted all small-scale mining in the Cordillera region in northern Philippines after heavy rains from super typhoon Mangkhut triggered landslides on Saturday which some government officials and large miners said were exacerbated by illegal small-scale mining.

In the village of Ucab in the town of Itogon in the Cordillera, the death toll has reached 62 with more than 40 people still missing, said Francis Tolentino, an advisor to President Rodrigo Duterte and head of the government’s disaster coordination.

Some of those who died were illegally extracting for gold around the areas where Benguet Corp operated a mine that suspended operations in the 1990s.

Benguet Corp said in a statement to the Philippine Stock Exchange on Tuesday that the illegal mining and gold processing activities there “are without the permission” of the company.

The Philippines is the world’s No. 2 nickel ore supplier after Indonesia. The government’s focus on small-scale mining follows an earlier crackdown on larger miners many of which were ordered closed or suspended for environmental infractions.

Last month, a government panel said 23 of 27 mines reviewed for compliance with state regulations will continue to operate, while the remaining four that failed the audit could face closure.
Miners in the Philippines criticize the government after a crackdown on mining closed more nickel and copper mines.