Hoang Danh Company Limited: Focus on environmental issues and labor safety

(Baonghean) - Hoang Danh Company Limited was granted a license to exploit stone at Thung May mine (Tan Hop commune, Tan Ky district) by the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment under Decision No. 204/GP-BTNMT issued on February 20, 2009. Since its inception, the Company has always focused on environmental treatment, investing in "layer cutting" and "layer cutting" mining to ensure safety for workers.

Spray water to clean the mill trough in the mine area.

Although located far from residential areas, during the stone grinding process, Hoang Danh Company Limited always focuses on environmental treatment (mainly stone dust). The company has invested nearly 1 billion VND in the environmental treatment system, including: Building a water reservoir, then pumping water up to the tank and leading it to a tank of over 12m3 of water, using 8 high-capacity pumps to spray water right at the grinding system, so it can thoroughly treat stone dust pollution.

Mr. Nguyen Nam, a stone processing worker, said: After the break, our environmental treatment team was assigned to continue spraying water to clean the grinding system, clean the crushed stone storage area, and minimize the wind causing the stone dust to fly. Regarding wastewater treatment, although the company does not use water to process stone, it still invests in installing a sewer system and digging over 200m of ditches and settling tanks to contain wastewater, preventing water from flowing out of the mine area. During the mining and processing process, solid waste (mainly crushed stone) is collected by the Company to improve the mine surface, invest in repairing roads to the mine and residential areas, the company is continuing to select and plan to dispose of the rest.

Ms. Dinh Thi Thu Hien - Director of Hoang Danh Company Limited affirmed: The company sets the motto "Production and business efficiency must be associated with strict implementation of the law on occupational safety and health". 100% of workers are issued 2 sets of labor protection equipment/year, the safety belts used are all of guaranteed quality. Every day, the company checks the implementation of labor safety standards for each worker; checks the storage, transportation, use and destruction of industrial explosives. In addition, to ensure safety in the blasting process, the company regulates blasting hours, arranges security forces, safety warnings, and places regulations, signs, prohibition signs, and directional signs at production locations. The company also applies "compression ball" technology to break rocks to limit blasting. In particular, from mid-2009 to now, the company has invested billions of dong to build mining roads to the top of the mountain, in accordance with the mine design process, (cutting 5 floors, each floor is 20-50m wide, wide enough for mechanical vehicles to operate and collect stone materials). The operation and production process is completely mechanized from mining and processing, mining to where it is done neatly, not letting the stone fall. Thanks to the "layer-cut" mining from the top of the mountain down, the safety of people and mechanical vehicles is ensured, from 2009 to now, the company has not had any labor accidents. On April 1, 2014, the Economic - Budget Committee and the Provincial People's Council conducted supervision of compliance with the law on environmental protection, management and protection of assets and minerals at a number of enterprises in Tan Ky district. They assessed: Hoang Danh Company Limited (in Tan Hop commune, operating in the field of mineral exploitation) strictly complies with the State's regulations on mineral management and exploitation.

Hoang Danh Company Limited has paid nearly 3.1 billion VND to the State budget in 4 years (2011, 2012, 2013, 2014), including resource tax, environmental protection fee in mineral exploitation, business license tax, import tax. The company has also paid nearly 40 million VND/3 years in environmental protection deposit; at the same time, it is interested in implementing environmental protection measures for employees and the surrounding environment.

Mr. Nguyen Van Tan - Chairman of Tan Hop Commune People's Committee added: The commune regularly inspects and urges the company to handle the environment, so the situation of rock dust has been significantly reduced. Regarding solid waste which is crushed rock, the company has repaired and patched over 5 km of road for Tan Hop Commune. Mr. Nguyen Van Thanh - Head of Tan Ky Department of Natural Resources and Environment said: Hoang Danh Company Limited is doing quite well in environmental work (using pumps to water rock dust in the production area), not letting water flow out of the mine area. However, the district will continue to inspect and supervise environmental work, and is currently requesting the company to maintain the operation of 8 pumps to water the production area; have a plan to handle solid waste (crushed rock) in the mine area.

Hai An