Extractive industries
Mining
High-profile group opposes private gold mining and licence renewal
A group of high-profile academics and former politicians in Thailand have rallied opposition against the renewal of Akara Resources’ gold mining licence and the company’s plan to open a new gold mine, arguing that the gains from the new concession would not be worth the environmental ...
One villager’s struggle for justice at Heinda tin mine
For more than a decade, U Saw Dar Shwe has been fighting a battle against a Thai tin mining company which he says has irreparably destroyed his land. A smallholder areca palm farmer and ethnic Kayin, U Saw Dar Shwe has repeatedly refused compensation from Myanmar ...
Amyotha committee takes aim at resource extraction
With Myanmar’s deadly jade industry increasingly under international scrutiny after hundreds of scavengers were buried in landslides, the Amyotha Hluttaw is taking the infamously unregulated extractive industries sector to task. The illegal plundering of natural resources will be put to an end, according to National League for ...
Koh Kong sand dredging impact studies due
The Ministry of Mines and Energy plans to release the environmental impact assessments of two controversial sand-dredging companies in Koh Kong “soon”, ministry spokesman Meng Saktheara said on 15 February. Activists from NGO Mother Nature – three of whom have been arrested for interfering with the ...
FYI Resources : MoU for potential potash production in Laos
Board of Directors of Perth-based FYI Resources’ are pleased to announce the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Yuntianhua Group, headquartered in Yunnan China, for a potash project collaboration and potential resource development and production opportunities in Laos. Keep reading ...
Quarry incident raises alarm for work safety
When rescue workers retrieved the last body from a collapsed quarry in Yen Lam District, Thanh Hoa Province on 23 January, it raised the total number of work-related deaths in the central province to 20 since the beginning of 2016. The quarry collapse itself led ...
Up to 30 feared dead in two Hpakant landslips
Deadly landslips have brought more death to Kachin State as two separate collapses in one day at the Hpakant jade mines claimed an unknown number of victims. Local residents fear as many as 30 people may have lost their lives. The first of the two landslides ...
Ministry of Home Affairs strikes up jade probe
A jade probe led by the government following several deadly accidents at mines in Kachin State has expanded its scope and is now being overseen by the Ministry of Home Affairs. The special investigative team, which was previously under the Ministry of the Environment, is looking into ...
NLD lawmaker: ‘They are now operating the jade mines around the clock’
During the 8 November elections, Khin Maung Myint, 65, won an upper house parliament seat for the National League for Democracy in Kachin State’s Hpakant District, an area that has long been famous for its jade mines. The newly elected MP spoke with Myanmar Now ...
Illegal mining halted on Chinese ELC in Preah Vihear
Preah Vihear provincial authorities cracked down last week on an illegal gold mining operation occurring inside a land concession belonging to a Chinese company in Rovieng district. Unauthorised mining is common both inside and outside the 2008 concession to Cambodia WS Mining Industry Holding Ltd, known ...