Extractive industries

Minerals and mineral products

Three Arrested in Laos for Illegally Mining Gold on Land Leased by Chinese Company

Authorities in Laos’ Luang Prabang province arrested three rural villagers for trespassing after they tried to mine gold on land granted in a concession to a Chinese company, RFA has learned. The villagers, from Phapon village in Luang Prabang’s Pak Ou district, were initially detained by ...

RFA’s Lao Service

Myanmar authorities stop 17 illegal gold mines along Ayeyarwady River

U Kyaw Myint Than, director of the Directorate of Water Resources and Improvement of River System said the illegal gold mines were discovered in Thabeikkyin township during an inspection on the area on Monday. The general administration department, police force and the officials from the Ministry ...

Kyaw Ko Ko

Cambodian-Lao coal power deal an environmental worry

With plans for cross-border electricity grids growing in the region, Laos is banking on hydropower exports to earn revenue. But a recent deal to also sell coal power generated in Laos to Cambodia has sparked environmental concerns over this trade. Last month, Cambodia’s state-owned utility firm ...

Regional Government in Myanmar’s Sagaing Rethinks Support For Chinese Copper Mine

The Sagaing regional government in northwestern Myanmar on Monday cancelled permission for a Chinese company to conduct inspections for a new copper mine project following a protest by local residents in the capital Monywa. Hundreds of local residents staged a morning protest opposing the granting of ...

Koh Kong’s first coal-fired plant up in the air: Ministry

The investors of a project to build the first coal-fired power plant in Koh Kong province are still looking for buyers, according to the Ministry of Mines and Energy. In 2017, Electricity Generating Authority of Thailand, a government-owned utility, started negotiations on building a 2,400-megawatt coal-fired ...

Chea Vansak

Gold mining operation kicks off in Xaysomboun

A feasibility study of exploration and processing at a 234.6 square kilometre gold mining site at Naty village area in Longchaeng district, Xaysomboun province, has begun after the government gave the green light. The project is a partnership between the Jo Bounmy Mining Development Co., Ltd. ...

Vietnam Needs to Break Its Addiction to Chinese Coal

When it comes to the effects of global climate change, Vietnam is one of the world’s most at-risk nations. Rising sea levels threaten to inundate both the Mekong and Red River Deltas, potentially impacting tens of millions of people. Vietnam is also one of the fastest ...

Brian Malczyk and Tim Robinson

Illegal gold mining pollutes Đắkrông River

Although the Thừa Thiên-Huế Province People’s Committee announced it had cracked down on illegal gold mining along the upper part of the Đắkrông River in A Lưới District, the river water is still polluted, affecting people living downstream. Lao động (Labour) newspaper on Wednesday reported that gold ...

Mining exploration set for region home to endangered river dolphins

Australian mining firm Medusa Mining has announced plans to begin exploration for gold, copper and oil in Kratie province’s Prek Kampi commune, about 35 kilometres west of a stretch of the Mekong River that is home to endangered river dolphins.Keep reading ...

Robin Spiess & Brendan O’Byrne

Coal imports reduce in 7 months y-o-y

Việt Nam imported 7.9 million tonnes of coal worth US$810 million in the first seven months of the year. The imports represented a 5.1 per cent decrease in terms of quantity and a 49.2 per cent increase in term of value compared the same period last ...

Vietnam News Staff

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