ENVIRONMENT Secretary Regina Paz Lopez only wants to raise the bar on responsible mining with a new round of audit of all operating mines in the country, the Mines and Geosciences Bureau (MGB) said on Wednesday.

In a telephone interview, MGB Director Leo Jasareno said they would impose a stricter set of criteria in their audit, which will cover some 105 metallic and non-metallic mines nationwide, including quarrying and small-scale mining.