Philippines under pressure to improve the rights of nickel miners amid global talks on critical minerals

But for many locals, those early promises quickly unravelled, according to a recent study by the United States-based nonprofit Climate Rights International (CRI). 

The study, which shows how workers were pushed into precarious, low-paid and often unsafe employment, was released just weeks before the United Nations COP30 climate conference in Belém, Brazil, where negotiators were set to finalise text about equity in transition for the first time, amid pressure from civil society to build on momentum created when transition minerals entered  the official negotiation agenda last year. 

Global nickel demand is expected to nearly double by 2040, rising from 2.8 million tonnes in 2021 to around 5.7 million tonnes, driven primarily by electric vehicles (EVs) and clean energy technologies, data from the International Energy Agency (IEA) show. 

As the world’s appetite for minerals surges, advocates demanded that governments recognise human rights, environmental protection and equity in mineral value chains in the climate negotiations, and the Philippines was no exception.  

Youth protesters call for global just transition at COP30 in Belem, Brazil. Image: UN Climate Change - Zô Guimarães, via Flickr

The Philippines is the world’s second-largest producer of nickel and its leading exporter of raw nickel ore – a key material in the renewable energy transition used in EV batteries and energy storage. Yet it has also consistently ranked among the deadliest places in Asia for land defenders since 2012, with the mining sector the most dangerous, despite repeated international calls for reform. 

For many communities on the front line of the industry, that contradiction is a daily reality, and the economic progress is invisible for locals like Ricardo*, a 59-year-old resident of Dinagat Islands, who was one of those interviewed for the CRI study.  

“Even if you work in mining, the salary isn’t enough. Last year, I worked for [the mining company] until the offseason started… I worked eight hours per day, [but] they paid less than minimum wage,” he told report authors, who claimed that he was paid below the legally mandated minimum wage. 

Ricardo was not alone. Analiza*, a 46- year-old rice farmer from Malinao, faced the same plight when her husband was promised a stable mining job, but the company they worked for didn’t follow through on its commitment to his permanent hire.  

“[The mining company] said my husband had a priority job because we were landowners and promised him work in the offseason. But he was laid off [for the rainy season] and told he would be rehired, but he wasn’t,” she recounted in the report. 

Nickel mining operations can be seen on a mountainside that overlooks the town of Claver in Surigao del Norte, one of the provinces in the mineral-rich Caraga region. Image: CRI

Miners in the Philippines are hired on a contractual basis, primarily through project employment, seasonal work, or legitimate job contractors or subcontractors under the labour code and an order from the Department of Labour and Employment (DOLE). 

Mines would also subcontract work such as blasting and construction, which fall outside their core expertise, often outsourcing these activities to specialised companies with better equipment and expertise, according to Christian Arranz, professor at the department of mining, metallurgical and materials engineering at the University of the Philippines. 

However, mining firms are “solitarily liable” with contractors or subcontractors if contractual mining workers are not paid proper wages, Manila-based law office Respicio & Co said on its website, citing the country’s labour law.   

This means workers can claim unpaid wages directly from the principal to the extent of work performed under the contract, even in legitimate subcontracting, it noted.  

The Caraga region, which is prone to typhoons, usually enters its rainy season from November to January, when mining operations are forced into a four-month pause due to the weather. As many workers are on temporary or unofficial contracts, they are left without income during this months-long period, according to the CRI study. 

Two nickel mining projects above Barangay Malinao, Tubajon, and the Malinao Inlet in Tubajon, Dinagat Islands. Image: Erwin Mascariñas/ Climate Rights International.

Krista Shennum, a lead author of the CRI study, believes that the process of workers hired by subcontractors makes accountability for harms quite difficult.  

While contractual work is legal, she highlighted how a “complex web of subcontractors” existed in the mining companies she has observed, where the principal mining firms are not necessarily the ones who hold the Mineral Production Sharing Agreement (MPSA), a permit the government grants to allow extractive operations.  

The MPSA also indirectly protects workers by mandating adherence to DOLE standards, including contractor registration, solidary liability for principals on wages and benefits, and occupational safety and health programmes. 

Mining companies are subject  to inspections  for environmental, labour and operational compliance. The Mines and Geosciences Bureau (MGB) oversees environmental protection and rehabilitation when the mine closes, while DOLE conducts labour and safety inspections. 

But Shennum noted a “lack of transparency” with the regulation of workers.  

“Many of the mines are found in remote areas, such that the mining companies who are supposed to be the ones scrutinised are the ones fetching government inspectors themselves from ports that are usually far away from the mining site,” she told Eco-Business.  

The CRI study also cited Rolando, who worked for a subcontractor, as saying that inspections by authorities were pre-announced, so that mining companies could take measures to better perform in the inspection. 

“Because of the regulators’ lack of answers, it’s unclear [how workers are treated]. Because these communities are so far away, these types of impacts on workers can go unseen,” said Shennum. She wrote to the DOLE and MGB to enquire about their policies and practices but neither has replied, as of this writing. 

 Legitimisation of critical minerals in the global stage

Advocates welcomed COP after negotiators adopted the Belém Action Mechanism for a Just Transition, which sets out how governments and the private sector should put people at the centre of national and sectoral transitions. For the first time, the final text included comprehensive language on rights and inclusion, affirming the importance of social dialogue, labour rights and decent work. 

However, what eclipsed this victory was the exclusion of reference to critical minerals, at the insistence of China and Russia. 

China is the largest nickel consumer in the world, accounting for over half of the global nickel consumption. China is also the top market for the Philippines’ nickel ores and concentrates exports, with the Southeast Asian nation’s profits surging to over US$600 million in the first semester of this year, even after world market prices tumbled. 

But Angela Asuncion, senior advisor on transition minerals & just energy transitions of nonprofit Bantay Kita, still believes that having it heavily discussed within COP30 negotiations is already a “fundamental step to legitimising mineral issues within global negotiations in the future.” 

Governance of critical minerals was part of the discussion at the G20 meeting in Johannesburg, South Africa, shortly after COP30, and is currently within UN Environment Assembly negotiations.  

“As we continue to work towards the inclusion of minerals text in COP31 negotiations, this recognition will eventually increase the legitimisation and fundamental need to address the material dimensions of the global decarbonisation movement to green technology,” Asuncion told Eco-Business, adding that it should strengthen accountability and due diligence to ensure labour rights in nickel mining are reflected in just transition pathways and national climate plans.

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Influencing global multilateral processes will never be enough …we must continue the work at all spaces and scales to demand accountability from governments to uphold enhanced human rights due diligence…

Angela Asuncion, senior advisor on transition minerals & just energy transitions, Bantay Kita

She also said China’s rejection does not fully mean that it is not ready to be fully transparent about its mineral supply chains. 

China was at the G20 promoting “mutually beneficial cooperation and peaceful utilisation of critical minerals,” asking countries to support the UN Secretary General’s Panel on Critical Energy Transition Minerals, designed to ensure critical minerals are managed in a way that is just, sustainable, equitable and transparent. 

Asuncion said her organisation received information during the conference that China would like to be explicit about its minerals strategy within the spaces it feels it is leading.  

For instance, they might have felt that their dominance within green tech and transition mineral supply chains was at risk from EU and Western powers, but might have felt they had more leverage and power at G20, she noted. 

While multilateral talks on critical minerals are gaining ground, influencing the process at the international level will “never be enough”, she warned.  

“We must continue the work in all spaces and scales to demand accountability from governments to uphold enhanced human rights due diligence and address corporate impunity to historical and ongoing human rights abuses,” she said.  

Upskilling and ‘radical transparency’ 

Since taking office four years ago, Philippine president Ferdinand Marcos, Jr has promoted mining for transition minerals such as nickel and copper as a pillar of post-pandemic economic growth.  

In his second year, he launched the “green lanes” initiative to fact-track permits for what are considered strategic investments, including mining and clean energy projects. 

But according to the University of the Philippines’ Arranz, the drive has not been matched by any dedicated labour law for miners, with protections instead relying mainly on existing frameworks that mandate workplace safety, hazard training and full-time safety officers. 

Marcos, Jr signed a new law in September introducing a modernised mining fiscal regime aimed at ensuring Filipinos receive a fairer share of extractive sector revenues. 

It includes a five‑tier royalty of up to 5 per cent on metallic mining outside mineral reservations, with a 0.1 per cent minimum for lower‑margin operations. Mines inside reservations continue to pay a 5 per cent royalty to the government. 

While noting that the reform is intended to support continued mine operations and job stability by allowing companies to weather “lean years” without shutting down, Arranz said improving workers’ prospects will also require upskilling to encourage permanent hiring rather than subcontracting. 

Some local firms already offer mining-engineering scholarships, digital skills training and on-site apprenticeships with allowances and job placement, often in partnership with universities under the government’s employment programmes. The government and mining companies also have a role to provide data accessibility for communities, consumers, and decision-makers to transform “hidden harms” into shared knowledge, added Asuncion. 

“A key part of this effort is demanding radical transparency, including public beneficial ownership disclosures that reveal who truly controls mining operations and which government officials may be implicated in corruption,” she said.  

“Informed citizens can then exert meaningful pressure: shareholders can demand responsible conduct, and voters can push governments to act decisively against corporate abuse.” 

*Sources have requested pseudonyms be used to protect their identity.

This report was written and produced with support from the Thomson Reuters Foundation. The content is the sole responsibility of the author and the publisher.