MANILA – Environment Secretary Gina Lopez said Friday she wanted to ban new mines and would suspend the environmental permit of a nickel mine that is sandwiched between two protected areas.

"I want to put a moratorium on any new mine," Lopez told reporters on Friday.

"I don't want to fight the mining companies, I can work with them as long as they don't silt the river, destroy the rice fields," she added.

Lopez suspended a nickel mine in southern Davao Oriental province run by private-owned Austral-Asia Link Mining Corp. and Century Communities Corp.’s permit that allowed it to build a housing project at the La Mesa Watershed.

The environment secretary told Reuters on Monday that Austral-Asia’s environmental permit would be cancelled because it sits between Mount Hamiguitan, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, and Pujada Bay, a marine protected area.

Mount Hamiguitan is also home to the endangered Philippine Eagle.

"That's the bahay (home) of the Philippine Eagle. That's where they make babies," said Lopez, a stanch environment advocate before she assumed the environment portfolio last June 30.

Last month, Lopez asked 20 mines to explain why they should not be suspended for failing an industry-wide audit of compliance with environment laws. -- with reports from ABS-CBN News