MANILA – Mining companies said on Friday they hoped a planned review of their operations would observe due process.

The multi-stakeholder review was ordered on Thursday after the mining industry protested Environment Secretary Gina Lopez’s decision to shut 23 mines and suspend 5 others.

“It’s the implementation now. I hope it will be well-implemented,” Chamber of Mines chairman Artemio Disini told a joint news conference of business groups.

Lopez had insisted earlier Friday that processes were followed. “I didn’t like the implication that I had not followed due process. I have and I can,” she said.

Oceana Gold President Joey Leviste said the review ordered by the Mineral Industry Coordinating Council (MICC) was a “step forward.”

“It also afforded Sec. Lopez a chance to explain her position,” Leviste said.

Lopez and Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez co-chair the MICC, an inter-agency oversight body.

The multi-stakeholder review will be “recommendatory,” Lopez said on Friday, adding she would not back down on her stand to ban mining activities in watersheds.

Global Ferronickel president Dante Bravo said confusing reports on the closure of one of its mines caused its stock price to drop 20 percent and jeopardized its plans to sell shares.

Bravo said Lopez could have been “overwhelmed by her emotions” when she she saw soil erosion on the Surigao coast during an aerial inspection. He said rainy weather during the inspection caused coastal waters to turn brown.