15 mining projects see concessions revoked
Fifteen mining operations have had their concessions revoked after investors failed to implement their projects as agreed after they were granted concessions by the government. Speaking at the ongoing ordinary session of the National Assembly last week, Minister of Energy and Mines Dr Khammany Inthirath said “Some companies just held [concessions without implementing them] purely in order to resell them.” The government suspended consideration of new mining projects a few years ago, saying it wanted to take steps to better regulate the mining industry after learning that a number of projects had failed to observe the agreements they had signed with the government. Dr Khammany said his officials began carrying out inspections in 2016 and found that almost 20 mining operations were not in compliance with the agreements and stood to lose their concessions. The findings were submitted to the Ministry of Planning and Investment, which subsequently annulled the concessions previously awarded to 15 projects.
