Tacloban City - The Mines and Geosciences Bureau (MGB) here will continue this year to push for the promotion of the mineral industry in Eastern Visayas as it still sees several potential areas for mining in the region.

MGB Regional Director Loreto Alburo told Leyte Samar Daily Express in an interview that mining could be a good source of revenue for the local government units in the region, which eventually could lead to economic development in the areas concerned.

Last year alone, Alburo said the mineral industry registered a 20 to 30 percent growth in terms of revenues. These revenues were apportioned to the provincial, municipal and barangay governments concerned.

Alburo assured that the promotion of the mineral industry in the region would already be taken with extra caution from possible harmful effects to the environment of the communities directly affected.

"We will continue our promotion of the mineral industry in the region this year through the conduct of responsible exploration and developments," Alburo said.

He disclosed that a number of exploration permit applications and application for mineral production are now pending at his office.

"All of these are intending to conduct exploration in Eastern Samar, Southern Leyte, and some areas in Samar," Alburo said.

Alburo said some areas in Eastern Samar are rich in chromite and nickel while Samar is known for its rich bauxite deposits.

"The mineral deposits in Samar are the only significant bauxite deposit in the entire country," Alburo said.

But he said it is still in the exploratory stage. He added that about two Mineral Production Sharing Agreements (MPSAs) in Samar are now pending and a good number of their hectarage are "unfortunately" inside the Samar Island Natural Park (SINP), which means a lot of processes have to be made for the MPSAs to be approved.

Other areas in the region, such as Southern Leyte, is also rich in copper associated with gold while the eastern part of Leyte can be a good source of magnetite sand and iron ore. He added that the northwestern part of Leyte province is also a source of limestone for industrial, cement manufacture and others.