Extractive industries
Money concerns over check on mine
The probe into the origin of toxic contamination in areas near the Akara Resources gold mine may be delayed due to financial problems and difficulty in getting all partners to accept a restoration process. Four ministries – Industry, Public Health, Natural Resources and Environment, and ...
MATA calls for investigation into Shan State coal mine
A civil society alliance has asked the Shan State government to investigate a coal mine in Namsan township, after farmers claimed their land was confiscated by force without explanation. Myanmar Alliance for Transparency and Accountability has asked the state government whether the mine has been approved ...
Compensation for mining company’s ‘poisoning’ not enough: plaintiffs
People in Tak province say nothing has been done about removing cadmium contamination from their water source, while the Appeals Court on 12 July upheld the Civil Court’s earlier ruling against zinc-mining companies on the leakage of toxins into the Mae Tao River Basin. The Southern ...
Mother nature activists released
The Koh Kong Provincial Court in Cambodia decided to suspend a year and a half sentence handed down to three activists from environmental NGO Mother Nature who have been in prison since last August – longer than the legal limit for pre-trial detention. The three ...
Sagaing authorities start gold mine clampdown
Sagaing Region authorities in Myanmar are launching a crackdown on small-scale gold mines that, they say, contribute to environmental degradation. But concern is growing that larger companies, which are licensed at the level of the Union government, may be allowed to continue operating. Sagaing Region was ...
Three-month suspension of titan mine over reservoir collapse
Vietnam’s Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment has suspended the titan exploitation at Nam Suui Nhum mine for three months due to a reservoir collapse. The 3,000-cubic-metre reservoir of Tan Quang Cuong Ltd. in the Ham Thuan Nam District of Binh Thuan collapsed on June 16, ...
‘Power shortage’ if newcomers win gas deals
Thailand could face a power shortage in 2020 and 2021 if newcomers win the upcoming petroleum auctions and current gas producers cut their investments prior to the handover, a senior energy official has warned. Prasert Sinsukprasert, deputy director-general of the Energy Policy and Planning Office, told ...
In Mon State expanding quarries threaten farms
The number of quarries in Mon State is quickly increasing and locals say authorities fail to regulate their environmental impact on farmlands. On a recent afternoon in May, the farmers of Ohn Titbin Village Tract were tending to their betel nut and rubber plantations when a ...
Authorities visit disputed coal power plant in Mon State
Authorities in Mon State for the first time visited a Thai cement factory where a coal power plant was built without informing locals or authorities, said local sources. The Mawlamyine Cement Limited factory officers said that they intended to use coal power if the government could ...
Gold miner Besra Vietnam suffers massive losses
Canadian Besra Inc.’s Besra Vietnam, the operator of two gold mines in the central province of Quang Nam, namely Phuoc Son Gold Company Ltd. and Bong Mieu Gold Mining Company Ltd., has suffered a loss of over VND1 trillion ($44.7 million) with a short-term debt ...
