MANILA - The Chamber of Mines of the Philippines said Monday it would adopt a Canadian standard for sustainability in the industry.

The Philippines is the first country in Southeast Asia to adopt the Mining Association of Canada's Towards Sustainable Mining or TSM initiative and the fourth in the world after Finland, Argentina and Botswana, the chamber said.

The TSM requires mining companies to assess their facilities annually for tailings management, community outreach, safety and health, biodiversity conservation, crisis management, and energy use and greenhouse gas emissions management, the chamber said in a statement.

The initiative mandates that results of the assessment be made available to the public and be externally verified every 3 years, the chamber said.

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"There is so much that minerals development, done responsibly, can contribute to the economy of a nation and to the welfare of mining communities, as shown by numerous examples in the Philippines. The adoption of TSM by members of the Chamber of Mines is intended to institutionalize practices that secure these contributions for the long term," chamber president and Nickel Asia president Gerard Brimo said.

The chamber said it would form an advisory body to provide oversight to the industry.

President Rodrigo Duterte had repeatedly called on the mining industry to preserve the environment, at one time suggesting the adoption of Australian standards.

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