Mining projects destroy northern provinces

The Ma Non village of Ngan Son District in Bac Kan Province used to hum with the sounds of excavators and machinery operated by groups of gold prospectors who were mining gold and indiscriminately destroying the land in the process.

Dinh Quang Hieu, secretary of the district party committee, said the illegal gold miners had ravaged most of the communes in his district.

“They just packed up their stuff and switched to another spot if the local authorities in one site cracked down on them,” he said.

“More than 20 hectares of farmland of the locals have been destroyed this way by the illegal miners.”

For mining projects that had been licensed, the mining companies often refused to restore the land to its original conditions for farming after their licenses expired, the provincial Department of Natural Resources and Environment said.

Figures from the department show that 60 extractive projects were licensed to operate in the province, 5 of which were granted by the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment, and the remaining by the provincial people’s committee.

The gold mine Tan An in Lang San Commune, for instance, was licensed to operate from 2003 to 2008 on a total area of 15.9 hectares.

In May 2008, the provincial people’s committee ordered the mine be closed by March 2009 and the mining area returned to the authorities.

But until October 31, the area still remained to be cleaned up as required, though the investor had three times asked and been granted permission to delay its cleaning responsibility.

Environment severely contaminated

Nong Danh Hien, deputy chairman of Na Ri People’s Committee, said the area surrounding Toc Lu gold mine in Kim Hy commune used to be a verdant valley full of corn fields.

But it has now become a dead valley with a myriad of holes and craters filled with water, he said.

This, he said, was the work of Tan Thanh Company, the company that was allowed to extract the mine and had its license expire by 2008.

The company was supposed, under the terms of license, to restore and replenish the land by early 2009 but they did not do so even until now, he said, adding that the company had “disappeared.”

In Cao Bang, although the local authorities have stopped licensing and renewing mining projects, severe, long-term damage has already been done to the environment by more than 40 licenced ones.

The color of the Hien River in Thach An District has turned irremediably red by the waste water and mud dumped by the companies extracting the Phien Day gold mine, deputy chairman of the commune people’s committee, said.

Local authorities said although the Bao Phat Co. Ltd had been licensed to extract Phien Day mine until 2012, the company was suspended in April 2010 for polluting the environment.

“More than a year and a half after the mining has been suspended, the consequences it afflicted on the environment are still felt and have yet to be solved,” Le Van Chinh, chairman of the district people’s committee, said.