MANILA, Philippines - Food-to-power conglomerate San Miguel Corp. (SMC), is eyeing more coal mining projects in Mindanao.

SMC president Ramon Ang said the company's power generation arm, the SMC Energy Corp., is studying the prospects of  putting up a number of mine mouth coal plants in line with the government's energy security policy.

SMC, Ang said, believes that coal remains the cheapest transition fuel amidst the country's effort to promote renewable energy sources.

Ang said those opposing open pit mining should not worry because there many new technologies that could be applied to minimize environmental degradation.

"We're not affected (the oppositors). If they do not want those in the surface...we can do some underground mining. There are technologies now that can be used," Ang said.

Recently, the provincial government of South Cotobato passed an environmental code that banned open pit mining in the province.

SMC Energy plans to put up some 300-megawatt coal projects in Mindanao with an estimated cost of $2 billion.

The power firm said it was able to finalize the purchase of a number of coal concessions at the Daguma coal reserves located in Sultan Kudarat and South Cotabato.

The Department of Energy (DOE) is expecting more than 1,800 MW of power to be generated from clean coal power plants in the near term.