Fewer jobs will be created by the local mining industry as firms downscale operations and halt development given tight credit and dampened metal prices.

"[The jobs to be generated] might be 40% lower because many companies have slowed production and development," a Mines and Geosciences Bureau (MGB) official said last week.

"Miners were hit by low metal prices," the official, who requested anonymity, added.

Industry officials and observers agreed, with the Chamber of Mines of the Philippines (CMP) doubting the government’s employment projections and admitting it was also reviewing its own forecasts.

The government last year projected that mining companies would hire 8,716 miners in 2009, 8,155 in 2010 and 4,783 in 2011, MGB data show.

"[The government] will not attain that target because projects that should have been in operation have been postponed," said Artemio F. Disini, CMP chairman.

Richard Mills, an industry observer and chairman of executive search group Chalre Associates, agreed with the prognosis, saying "Mining will not be able to generate much employment this year."

In particular, "nickel projects are moving nowhere because of low metal prices," Mr. Mills added.

The MGB will start a review of job generation targets this week, director Horacio C. Ramos last week said. CMP Executive Vice-President Nelia C. Halcon said the group was also reviewing its jobs and investment targets, to be completed early next month.

Apex Mining Co., the Philippine unit of British miner Crew Gold Corp., earlier this year laid off 150 of its 1,955 workers to save on development costs at its Compostela Valley gold mine in southern Mindanao.

Berong Nickel Corp., the local unit of London-based Toledo Mining Corp. PLC, last month ceased operations in Palawan amid dampened demand and nickel prices cutting 600 jobs and retaining less than 50 employees.

Late last year, the Mines bureau admitted that the $10-billion investment target for 2011 would have to be delayed by a year or two as miners were experiencing difficulties in securing credit.

The CMP last month said it expects $1.5 billion in mining sector investments this year, but Mr. Disini said it would be lower given tight credit.

Investments in the local mining industry have reached some $2 billion since 2004, when the Supreme Court allowed 100% foreign ownership in local projects.

The Philippines sits atop an estimated $1 trillion worth of unexplored copper, gold, nickel and zinc reserves. - Neil Jerome C. Morales