Rodrigo Duterte said ban should remain in place given the environmental damage it causes, but noted he would give companies time to find alternative mining methods.
Government said it expects to settle its differences with the Canadian miner, which is developing the Skouries and Olympias projects in northern Greece, where it also operates the Stratoni mine.
The Cascabel project is located in the northern portion of the Andean copper belt in Ecuador, renowned for hosting almost half the world’s copper known reserves.