MANILA - Mines that were ordered shut or suspended will be served individual notices “soonest,” Environment Secretary Gina Lopez said Wednesday, after their operators pressed her for an explanation.

The Chamber of Mines said it would file a freedom of information request to compel Lopez to release details of an industry-wide audit that led her to shutter 23 mines and suspend 5 others.

Lopez said she made an “omnibus directive,” when she announced the results of the audit last week.

“Our lawyers have decided it should be individual, that’s why there’s been a delay. We personalized the directive and they should be getting it at the soonest,” she said in a text message to ANC’s Karen Davila.

Lopez also stood firm on her decision, saying. “At the end of the day, I make the decision based on truth, justice and the common good.”

Chamber of Mines vice president Ronald Recidoro said he believed the violations cited by the Department of Environment and Natural Resources should not be enough to warrant closures.

“Let’s have the technical details of your audit findings, so we can number one, remedy it, or if it cannot be remedied, pay the appropriate fines, pay the appropriate penalties,” Recidoro told “Headstart.”

Recidoro said the mining industry was “dazed and confused” with the pace of the audit, which he said took just four days for some. The mines also recently passed international inspections, he added.

“At that first instance, we already knew the odds are kind of stacked against us. How can we expect a fair and impartial audit when the audit team is composed mainly of anti-mining activists who have no technical knowledge or expertise on mining?” he said.