From the Editor: This paper was prepared by Romeo L. Bayle, a geologist and former PRRM staff. The findings, analysis and conclusions in this study are those of the author’s and do not necessarily reflect on the stand of the Philippine Rural Reconstruction Movement (PRRM) or its educational arm, the PRRM Conrado Benitz Institute for sustainability (PRRM- CBIS). The study serves as major input to development of policy and statements on the controversial and complex mining issue.

The Earth’s mineral realm is the first in the chain of events that brought life to the planet. Mineral deposits had been forming in the crust of the earth for billions of years, the result of violent land forces that raised volcanoes, caused continents to split and collide, and thrust whole mountain ranges into being.

From these events, superheated magma and other mineral-rich solutions were driven up into the shattered and porous rock, into the cracks and crevices, some to be caught and held below the surface, others to reach the erosive power of wind and rain, of shifting tides and extremes of heat and cold – to be scattered, concentrated, and scattered again. For eon upon eon, minerals enriched the earth, making it fertile… and life began.