Nghe An Newspaper responds to the dispatch of Quy Hop District People's Committee regarding the illegal mining case in Chau Hong commune

Joining Nghe An Newspaper reporters to inspect and cross-check the scene on July 27, 2020 were officials of Quy Hop district, including Mr. Cao The Bao - specialist of the Department of Natural Resources and Environment; Ha Huy Nham - Director of Quy Hop Center for Culture, Information, Sports - Communication.

How does the People's Committee of Quy Hop district respond to the illegal mining situation in Chau Hong commune?

(Baonghean.vn) - On July 15-16, 2020, Nghe An Electronic Newspaper published the following news and articles: "Revealing the illegal mining of quartz ore in Nghe An"; and "Clarifying the illegal mining of quartz ore in Nghe An". On July 22, 2020, the People's Committee of Quy Hop district issued Document No. 705/UBND-TNMT reporting the results of the inspection of the content reported by the newspaper.

There is a fundamental deviation

1.In Document No. 705/UBND-TNMT of Quy Hop District People's Committee,about the images of the road leading to the point with signs of quartz mining,It was explained: “… this road was opened by Mr. Nguyen Van Nam’s family, who reside in Poong village, Chau Hong commune, in 1997, to plant and transport acacia. Recently, about 15 hectares of acacia have reached harvest time, so Mr. Nam’s family and some other households have upgraded, widened and lowered the height, making it more convenient for transporting acacia.”

This is the route that the People's Committee of Quy Hop district, after inspection and verification, said was "upgraded, widened and lowered in height by the people, making it more convenient for the process of transporting glue". Photo: Nhat Lan

In the article “Clarifying the illegal mining of quartz ore in Nghe An”, the road is described as connecting to the shallow stream at Chau Hong 1 bridge, winding along the forest land hill area where 4-5 year old acacia trees are planted. This road was built quite elaborately. People have cut down the height of the hillsides, opening the road wide enough for heavy-duty vehicles to enter and exit easily.

In fact, this road has a fairly wide surface, about 5m, opened on the forestry land of Mr. Nguyen Van Nam's household - the Head of Poong village, Chau Hong commune. On the road, there are many weak ground positions that have been paved with rocks.

This road has a fairly wide surface, about 5m. There are many places where the ground is weak and has been paved with rocks. Photo: Nhat Lan

There are sections where, to reduce the slope, people have cut down soil and rocks up to 6 - 7m. The entire route to the area with signs of illegal mining is about 1km long, affecting about 1ha of forestry land and planted acacia trees (on the negative slope side, there are many fallen acacia trees). At the end of the route, it is divided into two branches. One branch goes up a high hill, with a surface only enough for small vehicles. On the hill, there is a large acacia forest of about five hectares that has been exploited, and new young acacia trees have been planted. The remaining branch, with a wide surface (enough for heavy vehicles to enter and exit, or turn around) goes straight into the area where there is digging and blasting for stone mining.

With a route length of about more than 1 km. It is estimated that it will affect approximately 1 hectare of forestry land. Photo: Nhat Lan

With the above situation, the road opening has 2 goals: transporting acacia trees and transporting stone ore after mining. But the main goal, it can be affirmed, is to transport illegally mined stone ore. Also regarding this content, on the way to the scene with the officers of Quy Hop district, Nghe An Newspaper reporters verified some people in the area and received the answer: "The road was built at the end of 2019, by stone miners...".

2.About reflecting signs of illegal digging and exploitation..., according to the People's Committee of Quy Hop district: "... this is an orphaned stone, not a large block, Mr. Nam arbitrarily hired an excavator, dug it up to renovate and level the ground to facilitate production, make a livestock farm, and grow crops more effectively...".

Rocks and ores scattered at the scene. Photo: Nhat Lan

However, through verification by the reporter and the people who went there, at the scene there were many rocks that had been gathered into piles, or neatly stacked on both sides of the entrance and exit of the transport vehicles. There were large rocks, up to 2 - 3m3 in size.

Also at the scene, it was shown that in some locations, the subjects used explosives for illegal mining; in some locations, the subjects used specialized machinery and equipment for digging and mining.

Also at the illegal stone mining site in Chau Hong commune, there were locations showing that the subjects had used explosives. Photo: Nhat Lan

With the fact that the site has a slope, a lot of rock ore, and there is digging and blasting to exploit rock ore, it shows that the inspection by the People's Committee of Quy Hop district that a household "hired an excavator to dig up and renovate the site to facilitate production, build a highly effective livestock and crop farm..." is incorrect.

3.On the management work of Chau Hong Commune People's Committee,According to the People's Committee of Quy Hop district: "On July 14, 2020, before the newspaper reported (July 16, 2020), inspection team No. 104/QD-UBND dated May 24, 2020 of the People's Committee of Chau Hong commune, on the establishment of the inspection team to handle mineral exploitation and processing activities, land and environmental protection in Chau Hong commune, when the People's Committee of the commune discovered signs of illegal stone mining. The inspection team requested to stop all leveling, scraping, digging activities and not to transport outside the area...".

The tents of the subjects set up in the illegal mining area were demolished by the Provincial Police Working Group on July 16, after verifying the information reported by Nghe An Newspaper. (Photo taken on July 27, 2020) Photo: Nhat Lan

Regarding this content, through investigation, it is known that on July 16, 2020, the Working Group of the Environmental Police Department of the Provincial Police conducted a scene investigation and verified the information reported by Nghe An Newspaper. During the scene investigation, the Working Group demolished a shack and temporarily seized an air compressor. Also through investigation, from July 16, 2020 onwards, the People's Committee of Quy Hop district did not receive any report from the People's Committee of Chau Hong commune about "discovering signs of illegal stone mining".

In the article “Clarifying the illegal mining of quartz ore in Nghe An”, it is reported that on July 14, 2020, Nghe An Newspaper reporters entered the scene. The article is accompanied by images clearly showing a tent covered with a tarpaulin located in an area where illegal mining of stone ore occurred. At the tent, there are household items and a number of Honda Win motorbikes.

The tents of the subjects were recorded by Nghe An Newspaper reporters on July 14, 2020. Photo: Nguyen Le Tran Vu.

Combining the information, it is necessary to review the report of Chau Hong Commune People's Committee that it had conducted an inspection, detected and prevented mineral exploitation on July 14, 2020.

No tolerance for wrongdoing!

Returning to the article "Clarifying the illegal mining of quartz ore in Nghe An" on July 16, 2020, here, Nghe An Newspaper, in addition to reporting on signs of illegal mining of stone ore, also raised the issue of reviewing the state management role of all levels, sectors, and units located in the area; especially with the Chau Hong commune government!

Nghe An Newspaper reporter next to an "orphaned" stone. Photo: Contributor

The reason for raising this issue is that the article analyzed: the area where illegal mining took place is located in the forestry land that the State has assigned to the people to manage and plant forests; this land is only about 2km from the Poong residential area and National Highway 48C; the cutting and opening of the road is on a large scale and must take place over a long period of time; to exploit and transport ore, the relevant subjects will have to use large specialized vehicles... Obviously, if the local authorities do their assigned duties and responsibilities correctly, it will be easy to detect, promptly prevent and handle subjects who illegally exploit minerals.

Also in the article “Clarifying the illegal mining of quartz ore in Nghe An”, Nghe An Newspaper mentioned Directive No. 04/CT-UBND dated March 27, 2017 of the Provincial People's Committee on strengthening state management of mineral resources in the province. It clearly stated that the reason the Provincial People's Committee issued Directive No. 04/CT-CT was because illegal mining was still taking place in some localities, causing loss of mineral resources, budget loss, environmental destruction, and causing public outrage. At the same time, it also mentioned that the Provincial People's Committee will review, clarify responsibilities and discipline the heads of local authorities at the district and commune levels if illegal mining occurs in areas under its management.

Some transparent stones were picked up by Quy Hop district officials in an area where illegal mining was taking place. They called it quartz. Photo: Nhat Lan

With the contents of this article, Nghe An Newspaper has the goodwill to hope that the Quy Hop district government will know about a local situation within its management scope to promptly inspect and clarify. Thereby, preventing the illegal exploitation of minerals occurring in the area; at the same time, rectify the state management work of the Chau Hong commune government in particular, and remind the commune-level governments in the area and the affiliated units and departments in general to be aware of fulfilling their assigned duties and tasks.

Document No. 705/UBND-TNMT of Quy Hop District People's Committee. Photo: Nhat Lan

However, we believe that the People's Committee of Quy Hop district has not yet accepted the reflections and comments in the article "Clarifying the illegal exploitation of quartz ore in Nghe An". Not only that, the People's Committee of Quy Hop district has issued Document No. 705/UBND-TNMT (sent to Nghe An Newspaper and higher-level agencies)with information that distorts the nature of the incident, has the nature of justifying the Chau Hong commune government, even showing signs of condoning illegal acts of illegal mineral exploitation subjects...

Therefore, Nghe An Newspaper recommends that the People's Committee of Quy Hop district look straight at the truth to re-evaluate the leadership and direction role of state management in the area. The case of illegal mining of stone ore organized and of a not small scale in Chau Hong commune is very clear; the People's Committee of Quy Hop district needs to inspect and clarify the related subjects; consider the responsibilities of organizations and individuals to strictly handle them according to the provisions of law!