MANILA, Philippines - DMCI Mining Corp. has reduced its workforce by 62 percent in the nine months to September this year, parent firm DMCI Holdings Inc. said yesterday.

This was due to the suspension of the company’s mining units in Palawan and Zambales.

From 550 previously, the number of DMCI Mining’s workers is now down to 207.

This does not include the thousands of seasonal workers hired during production ramp up, DMCI Holdings said.

DMCI Mining president Cesar Simbulan Jr. said the company had no choice but to implement the retrenchment.

“Our hands are tied. We have no choice but to let go of most of our workers,” Simbulan said.

He said the company is trying to retain as many people as possible by assigning them to the company’s different environmental rehabilitation sites.

“But mine rehabilitation is not as labor intensive as nickel production so we simply cannot absorb all of them,” Simbulan said.

DMCI Mining subsidiary Berong Nickel Corp. had to suspend operations after the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR) handed down a suspension order in June owing to the alleged discoloration of Barangay Berong’s river system and tributaries.

Similarly, the DENR also issued a suspension order on unit Zambales Diversified Metals Corp. due to “social issues.”