SANTA CRUZ, Philippines/JAKARTA In the eyes of Diosdado Alota, chief of Guinabon village in the northwest Philippines, the mining industry is key to his community's health.
Until the national government ordered a suspension of operations in 2014 over alleged river pollution, a nickel mine belonging to LNL Archipelago Minerals employed 80% of the village's men and annually financed 3 million pesos ($60,000) worth of road work, streetlights and other infrastructure.