The incident, the second one in Pantukan town in almost nine months, took place near the Kingking area on the southern island of Mindanao, said to be one of the world's largest undeveloped copper-gold deposits.

Government officials said there had been cracks in the mountains, caused by earlier landslides, and rain over the past weeks could have loosened soil. Last month, Typhoon Washi and the flash floods it caused on Mindanao island killed more than 1,200 people.

The latest landslide hit before dawn, burying people under loosened soil and boulder, said Lieutenant-Colonel Leopoldo Galon, an army spokesman. He added that 16 people were also pulled out from under rubble and rushed to a nearby hospital.

Still, about 100 people remained unaccounted for, security and local officials said.

The government's mines bureau has listed the copper-gold and gold mining operations in Kingking as one of its priority investment projects.