Manila: The Philippines could suspend at least 10 more mines under an environmental crackdown on the sector, the minister in charge of mining said, in a move that threatens to halt the operations of half the mines in the world’s top supplier of nickel ore. Global nickel prices jumped 2 per cent as the country’s second-biggest nickel producer warned that more new stoppages would disrupt shipments to the crucial Chinese market and elsewhere. President Rodrigo Duterte has taken a tough line on the industry and warned the nation could survive without mining, while mineral producers have labelled a review of the sector a “demolition campaign”. The Philippines has already halted the operations of 10 mines, eight of them nickel producers, for environmental lapses since it launched an audit on July 8.