Extractive industries
Mining
Trouble brewing after giant jade rock seized and deemed state property
Tensions are rising between gem scavengers and the Taut Pa Kye Company in Hpakant township, Kachin State, after a huge jadeite found by scavengers was confiscated as it was said to be state-owned property. After the jadeite was discovered in the Taut Pa Kye Company work ...
An uphill battle with illegal sand exploiters on Sai Gon River
The riverbed is becoming wider, while houses on the two banks are about to fall into the river due to serious erosion. Illegal sand exploitation has spoiled the environment, caused landslides, changing the current, and threatening waterway transport. “In the past, Sai Gon River was full ...
Quảng Nam probes 50,000cu.m of missing sand
Project investors, contractors and sub-contractors of a dredging project in the Cửa Đại Estuary are suspected of “serious violations” with a large volume of sand gone “missing.” Quảng Nam’s Public Security and Transport departments are collaborating with Hội An City and relevant agencies in investigating ...
Dredging fee fraud alleged
A French-Canadian businessman was charged on March 29 with defrauding a sand trader of more than $300,000 by promising to arrange official permission for a dredging operation. Interior Ministry police officer Chea Pesith said Seang Metta, 52, of Boeung Keng Kang II commune in Phnom Penh, claimed ...
Judge pledges to decide fairly in mining case
A Minbu court judge maintained that he would decide on a case involving illegal coal miners objectively, just a 400 people demonstrated against the prosecutions of a mining company owner and his workers. The protestors on Tuesday claimed that the Magway regional government had been ...
Transparency lacking in mining sector: Experts
The Vietnamese legal framework and policies regarding transparency in the mining sector is “fairly comprehensive”, however, implementation of such policies leaves a lot to be desired, according to a study by the Việt Nam Chamber of Commerce and Industry. The research on transparency compliance lamented ...
Shifting sands: illegal VN sales to Singapore
Quite a few Vietnamese companies are taking advantage of sand dredging privileges authorised by the Government to rake in huge illegal profits, according to an expose by the Tuổi Trẻ (Youth) newspaper. The investigative series, entitled “Tracing Vietnamese sand drain to Singapore”, reported that at ...
Official shares locals’ concerns of dredging
The appearance of an excavator, machine parts and metal structures on islands in the Tatai River in Koh Kong province has aroused suspicions among local conservationists that a company intends to launch a sand-dredging operation in the Tatai Wildlife Sanctuary – a suspicion shared by ...
Thai mine ‘destroyed Myanmar water sources’
People in Heinda district in Myanmar’s Tanintharyi Region have been deprived of clean water, amid claims that a tin mine operated by a Thai firm has contaminated the river and water sources with heavy metals. Looking out from the local temple, Myaung Pyo seems like ...
Sihanoukville dredging eyed
Ministry of Environment officials on February 22 said an inspection team will be deployed to investigate the recently halted sand-dredging operation for the development of the Sihanoukville Autonomous Port’s new multipurpose terminal, which has affected local families. Danh Serey, director of the ministry’s environmental impact assessment ...