Publicly handle officials and leaders who cover up and assist in illegal mineral exploitation.

Deputy Prime Minister Tran Hong Ha's direction is stated in Document No. 2547/VPCP-CN, issued by the Government Office on April 14, 2023. Previously, the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment had made a proposal in Report No. 33/BC-BTNMT dated March 29, 2023 and Report No. 19 BC-BTNMT dated February 8, 2023 reporting on the management, licensing, exploration and exploitation of minerals for common construction materials in the period 2019 - 2021 nationwide.

In Document No. 2547/VPCP-CN, for the People's Committees of provinces and centrally run cities, Deputy Prime Minister Tran Hong Ha directed to continue strictly implementing the provisions of the law on minerals as well as the direction of the Government and the Prime Minister in Resolutions, Directives, Official Dispatches and other issued documents related to mineral activities; at the same time, carry out a number of specific tasks and solutions as follows:

Speed ​​up the construction progress and submit to competent authorities for promulgation of the provincial planning, including the "Plan for protection, exploitation, and use of mineral resources in the province" to ensure the basis for granting mineral operation licenses to provide raw materials for production and business activities.

Urgently appraise and approve the reimbursement of State mineral investigation and exploration costs according to Decision No. 04/2018/QD-TTg dated January 23, 2018 of the Prime Minister promulgating the Regulation on the method of determining mineral potential assessment costs, mineral exploration costs that must be refunded, and the reimbursement method; stipulating the regime of collection, management, and use of mineral potential assessment and mineral exploration costs invested by the State.

Publicly handle responsibilities of officials and heads of agencies and organizations that cover up and assist in illegal mineral exploitation in the management area, thereby raising awareness and encouraging people to fight and denounce crimes.

A white stone mining site in Quy Hop district. Photo: Nhat Lan

Innovate and improve the effectiveness of propaganda and dissemination of legal education; promote the role of press agencies, especially social network information orientation in the fight to criticize and condemn violations of the law in the exploitation, transportation, and business of mineral resources. Promote the role of the industry and socio-political organizations in propaganda and education to raise awareness of law compliance.

Check and review issued mineral exploration and exploitation licenses and decisions and documents permitting mineral recovery during the implementation of approved and permitted investment projects to ensure compliance with legal regulations.

Report to the Ministry of Construction and the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment for consideration and guidance on the exploitation, processing and use of minerals as construction materials if minerals are found that meet the requirements on quality and reserves for paving stones, raw materials for cement production and industrial lime during the process of planning management, licensing and mineral activities as common construction materials in the area.

Strengthen inspection, examination and handling of violations in mineral exploitation without mine design, not in accordance with approved design and mining technology; false declaration of actual mineral output; failure to carry out statistics and inventory of mineral reserves. Suspend or revoke licenses as prescribed for organizations and individuals exploiting minerals causing unsafe working conditions; causing great loss of minerals, causing serious environmental pollution, negatively impacting the landscape, historical - cultural relics, and geological heritage.

Provincial police inspected and discovered a case of mineral exploitation exceeding the permitted reserve by more than 300,000 m3 at the Ru Dua mine area, Nghi Hung commune, Nghi Loc. Photo: Pham Thuy

Direct relevant localities, departments and branches to strictly implement the approved plan to protect unexploited minerals. Closely and effectively coordinate with relevant localities in implementing the coordination regulations in management, inspection and handling of violations in mineral activities, to prevent illegal mineral exploitation in border areas, especially river sand and gravel minerals.

It is strictly forbidden to take advantage of dredging and channel clearing to illegally exploit sand and minerals. Resolutely handle the responsibility of local government leaders, especially at the commune level, when illegal mineral exploitation activities continue for a long time, causing serious consequences.

Also in Document No. 2547/VPCP-CN, the Deputy Prime Minister directed the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment to strengthen the inspection of responsibilities of local administrative agencies, especially heads of agencies and organizations that allow illegal mineral exploitation and serious environmental pollution; strengthen the inspection and examination of organizations and individuals engaged in mineral activities regarding compliance with laws on minerals and other relevant laws.

The Ministry of Transport continues to coordinate with the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment, the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development, and relevant provincial People's Committees in implementing dredging projects, clearing estuaries, maritime ports, and clearing inland waterways in accordance with planning, combined with sand recovery; strictly prohibiting the use of dredging and clearing to illegally exploit sand and minerals.

The Ministry of Finance strengthens state financial management and has measures to strictly control revenue from minerals through actual exploitation output of mineral exploitation organizations and individuals...

In Nghe An, up to nowInterdisciplinary delegation inspects law enforcement in mineral activitiesestablished under Decision No. 3892/QD-UBND dated October 21, 2021 of the Provincial People's Committee has completed the inspection work. With 13 inspected enterprises, the total amount of fines, arrears, and additional tax declarations by enterprises amounted to more than 44 billion VND; of which, fines and arrears for tax violations alone were over 18.3 billion VND.

Cover of an article about the loss of mineral tax revenue in Nghe An Newspaper. Photo: Nhat Lan

Regarding the main existence of enterprises, focusing on the following contents: Using land for mine office areas and waste dumps but not yet leasing land; not yet installing weighing stations; establishing but not fully completing books, vouchers, documents, and related documents to determine actual annual mining output. There are a number of enterprises that exploit beyond the permitted capacity, exploit beyond the licensed boundary, violate mine design, build substandard fences for explosive warehouses, have not fully participated in social insurance for workers, have not fully trained in occupational safety and hygiene, have not developed incident handling and emergency response plans... Notably, all 13 inspected enterprises have violated the tax field. Violations in the tax field were analyzed and clarified by the Delegation such as false declaration of output, price for calculating natural resource tax, conversion coefficient between tons and m3.

Recently, in early April 2023, the Provincial Police Investigation Agency inspected and discovered that Dong Nam Company Limited was exploiting soil at the Pineapple mine area (Nghi Hung commune, Nghi Loc district) exceeding the permitted reserve by more than 300,000 m3. This case is currently under further investigation.