Extractive industries policy and administration
Extractive industries revenues
Lessons from the $2 billion coal mining lawsuit against Indonesia
Indonesia cannot be held liable for $2 billion in compensation sought by Churchill Mining for the revocation of a coal-mining concession, the World Bank’s International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes ruled in a Dec. 6 verdict. The tribunal determined that Churchill’s claim to the ...
Shut gold mine shows investors risks of Thai junta rule
When Thailand’s junta leader-turned-prime minister used his absolute power to suspend gold mining, causing an Australian miner’s shares to plummet 19% in a single day, he complicated efforts to attract foreign investors already spooked by military rule. Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha announced the order last ...
Minister faces music on sand
Mines Minister Suy Sem could not give parliament’s anti-corruption commission an acceptable explanation for why Cambodian customs data failed to note $750 million in sand exports that Singapore says it received, the committee’s chairman said after a hearing on December 15. Sem was called in ...
Gold mine ban ‘not final’
Experts believe junta order allows room for amendment later; Akara Resources says 1,000 workers will lose jobs. Environmental experts believe that the junta’s order on Tuesday to suspend gold mining operations is not final and there is room to reverse the decision or amend the ...
Mixed feelings toward dredging-fuelled fund
Minister of Mines and Energy Suy Sem on December 6 announced in Koh Kong province the creation of a community fund of nearly $40,000 for Koh Sralao village, according to a ministry official, who said the funds came from a 2-cent-per-cubic-metre levy imposed on sand dredgers ...
Ministry promotes quartz industry
The Industry Ministry is pushing for the development of quartz mining, as this mineral is an important raw material for the production of solar panels. According to the ministry’s Department of Primary Industries and Mines, the Kingdom has reserves of 25 million tonnes of high-quality ...
Sand extraction in Koh Kong province halted, ministry says
Facing mounting scrutiny over the country’s sand trade, the Ministry of Mines and Energy said on November 16 that all sand extraction had been suspended in Koh Kong province, where much of the country’s extraction takes place. “We have suspended it for a long time already,” ...
Singapore’s data mirrors UN’s in Cambodia’s sand export numbers
Singaporean customs data on sand imports from Cambodia show near identical figures to those recorded by the UN, which last month were dismissed by a top official amid a reporting discrepancy in the hundreds of millions of dollars. The UN data showed $752 million in imports ...
Production slowing at Wa Tin mine
Output from a mysterious Myanma tin mine that has disrupted the global market in the metal is falling sharply and deposits could be depleted in “two to three years,” senior mine officials told Reuters. A surprise discovery of large quantities of tin has propelled the formerly ...
Gov’t scoops up more mining revenue
In the first eight months of the year the Ministry of Mines and Energy has already surpassed its annual target for non-tax revenue collection from sand dredging and construction material-related mining operations, collecting 117 percent of the $6.6 million outlined in the 2016 national budget, ...
