Extractive industries

Over 40 new mining licences were issued during the first half of the year to satisfy the high demand for construction materials by Cambodian infrastructure and real estate projects, while more than 100 licences were revoked due to environmental concerns or inactivity, a government official ...

A dozen more Philippine mines, mostly nickel projects, are in danger of being suspended in an ongoing environmental crackdown on the sector, an environment undersecretary said on September 21. The Southeast Asian nation, the world’s top supplier of nickel ore, has already halted the operations of ...

Consultants and experts have recommended that Vietnam take measures to prevent foreign-invested projects from using outdated technologies, causing pollution and consuming national resources. First, oil refineries. The projects licensed so far in the field have total capacity of up to 50-60 million tons. It is estimated ...

In a milestone for Cambodia’s nascent mining industry, the government has issued the first commercial mining licence to Mesco Gold, giving the Indian mining firm a green light to extract and process ore at its gold project in Ratanakkiri province, industry sources said on September ...

For decades, coal-fired power dominated the U.S. energy supply—and was a leading source of greenhouse gas emissions. But a combination of factors including cheap natural gas, stronger pollution controls, increasing investment in renewable power and improved energy efficiency have pushed coal’s share of the energy market ...

The blooming of algae, resulting in the red tide phenomenon, is the main cause behind mass fish deaths reported last week in central Thanh Hóa Province, the provincial People’s Committee said on September 11. Earlier last week, locals found about 300kg of dead fish washed ashore ...

Chile, one of the major trading nations in South America, has relied heavily on exports of minerals, mainly copper. As falling copper prices have taken a toll on the nation’s economy, it is shifting its focus to exports of agricultural, forestry and fishery products, as ...

Former Minister of Planning and Investment, Professor Nguyen Mai, speaks to the Tuoi tre newspaper, suggesting that HSG should focus on the manufacture of high grade alloy rather than steel. Recently, the Hoa Sen Joint Stock Group made public a super project for steel production in ...

Cambodia’s oil and gas reserves will not see any production until at least 2018, according to a report by London-based BMI. “A deferral of development at Kris Energy’s Block A, which is the most progressive development in the country, prompted us to remove our forecast of ...

The Ministry of Mines and Energy is set to issue the country’s first commercial underground mining license to Indian company Mesco Gold in two weeks, despite opposition by residents of two villages concerned about compensation and environmental damage. The company plans to break ground on its ...