Surigao Norte has signed a deal to build a mining-tourism route
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MindanaoHerald | Surigao Norte has signed a deal to build a mining-tourism route | BUTUAN CITY – A memorandum of understanding (MOA) was signed in Surigao City on Wednesday so that a mining-tourism circuit can be built in the three mineral-rich towns in Surigao del Norte.
“This partnership will strengthen the push for turning old mines in those municipalities into ecotourism spots,” Ivonnie Dumadag, director of the Department of Tourism-13, said Thursday over the phone.
He was talking about the MOA that was signed by DOT-13, the towns of Alegria, Mainit, and Tubod, and the gold miner Greenstone Resources Corporation (GRC).
Dumadag said that developing mined-out and restored areas for ecotourism will give people in the towns ways to make a living.
She also said that it reaffirmed the government’s position that responsible mining and tourism can work together to help mineral-rich but economically underdeveloped places.
She said that mining and tourism are the main industries that make Caraga’s economy work. Caraga is home to many large-scale mines and beautiful tourist spots like Siargao Island.
As part of the MOA, she said, a set of training and programs for building up people’s skills will be put in place by the end of the third quarter of the year.
“Last month, I was invited to speak at the Caraga Mining Resiliency Summit, and I asked the mining companies in the area to make tourism projects a priority in their programs to help mining communities become more tourist-friendly,” Dumadag said.
She also said that the GRC was one of the companies that had answered positively by setting up the mining tourism circuit in the three towns in nearby Agusan del Norte. (via PNA)
