MANILA, Feb 2 (Reuters) - Philippine miners that were either ordered shut or suspended for environmental infractions will seek legal remedies, a spokesman for the country's mining group said, adding that the entire mining audit was "clearly flawed".
Environment and Natural Resources Secretary Regina Lopez earlier ordered the closure of 21 mines, mostly nickel producers that account for about half of output in the world's biggest nickel ore supplier, as a government campaign to fight environmental degradation deepens. audit process was clearly flawed," lawyer Ronald Recidoro from the Chamber of Mines of the Philippines told Reuters by phone, having opposed the inclusion of anti-mining groups in the teams that inspected the country's 41 mines.
"Definitely the companies that were named in the list will go legal," he said. They would initially file a motion for reconsideration with Lopez's agency "and once that is denied you go to the Office of the President and from there you go to the courts."