DENR Secretary Lito Atienza gestures at the annual Philippine mining conference in Manila on September 16, 2009. Atienza said the country could see $14-billion worth of mining investments from 2009 to 2014. (JAY DIRECTO/AFP)

MANILA, September 16, 2009 (AFP) - The Philippine mining industry hopes to make a strong comeback next year with up to $2-billion in investment as the global economy recovers, the government said on Wednesday.

Such an increase would nearly triple the amount of foreign and domestic investment projected for this year in the resource-rich Southeast Asian nation, the officials told a mining conference here.

"The interest is definitely there. The applications for investment are coming in," Environment Secretary Joselito "Lito" Atienza said.

However he conceded that the industry must become more competitive and work harder to curb domestic anti-mining sentiment, which flares particularly over environmental concerns.

"Mining in the Philippines has a poor public image and is facing social opposition on many fronts," he said.

Highlighting the issue, about two dozen anti-mining activists held a protest at the site of the conference.

Atienza said the country could see $14-billion worth of mining investment from 2009 to 2014, with many projects already in the pipeline.

The director of the government's Mines and Geosciences Bureau, Horacio Ramos, said it had targeted $2-billion worth of domestic and foreign investment in 2010 compared with $600-million projected for this year.

Investment in the industry fell from about $700-million in 2007 to $650-million last year, according to the bureau, due largely to the global economic crunch that caused financing for projects to dry up.

Ramos said that financing was becoming more available to mining companies amid rising metal prices and growing signs that the worst of the economic crisis was over.

He said the government expected to approve four agreements with large foreign mining firms this year, covering investments worth more than $50 million each.

Speaking at the same conference, Philippine Vice President Noli de Castro said that "a surge in production and investment can be expected by the end of 2010".

But he also said the government must make the industry more competitive, citing surveys showing that the cost of doing business in this country remained relatively high, with red tape complicating every transaction.

Wu Zhengping, the Chinese embassy's economic counselor, raised similar issues while saying his country remained very interested in the Philippine mining industry, citing growing demand for copper and nickel.

"The first thing you have to do is improve your investment environment," he said, calling for a relaxation of rules limiting foreign ownership of assets and an improvement of the country's infrastructure.

Chamber of Mines president Benjamin Romualdez welcomed China's increased interest.

"Our neighbor has set a course for itself... that could well propel our industry into the future," he said.

The Philippine mining industry enjoyed a boom after it was deregulated in 1995, opening it up to more foreign investment.

However like many Philippine export-oriented industries, it was hit hard by the outbreak of the global financial crisis last year.

The government estimates the Philippines has 83 billion tons of mineral ore deposits.

The country's estimated gold ore reserves of four billion tons is the world's third largest, its 7.9 billion tons of copper the fourth largest and the 815.3 million tons of nickel ore the fifth biggest in the world, it says.