The government's small-scale mining provisions were originally intended to give poor, mainly rural people a chance to earn a little money, according to the head of the government's Mines and Geosciences Bureau, Leo Jasareno.
But it has been widely exploited and most of the small-scale miners today, including those in Mount Diwata, violate the conditions for small-scale mining by using explosives and poisonous chemicals such as mercury, Jasareno said.
Jasareno estimated that there may be as many as 300,000 such small-scale miners across the country, creating a major environmental problem.
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