The hardship of suppressing "tin bandits" and "gold thieves" on National Highway 48
(Baonghean.vn) Taking advantage of the Lunar New Year holidays, local people flocked to many areas licensed for tin and gold mining to illegally mine tin in Quy Hop and Que Phong districts... As early as the 7th day of the lunar calendar, Working Group No. II (Provincial Environmental Police Department) deployed forces to organize the expulsion.
(Baonghean.vn) Taking advantage of the Lunar New Year holidays, local people flocked to many areas licensed for tin and gold mining to illegally mine tin in Quy Hop and Que Phong districts... As early as the 7th day of the lunar calendar, Working Group No. II (Provincial Environmental Police Department) deployed forces to organize the expulsion.
"Tin pirates" and "gold pirates" are rampant
We, along with Working Group II, entered the Pa Po area of Cuong village, Chau Tien commune. Despite the cold, there were quite a few groups of people still mining for tin. Some groups used "water cannons" to spray water into the mountain, this area was licensed to a company. But the "tin bandits" still jumped in to fight, some even stood up to protect the locals who illegally mined.
There were times of tension, "tin thieves" even used guns and bows and arrows to threaten licensed units. Nguyen Tran
Tin mining bandits in Chau Tien - Quy Hop.
Not to mention that many companies licensed to mine tin still have disputes. For example, in the Suoi Bac area, Chau Hong commune, Chau Thanh, there are 5 companies mining tin ore but are disputing the mining location. The dangerous thing is that these companies are all mining underground under the mountain. For example, Duc Chinh Company had another company dig a tunnel through its own area of about 200 m. Not to mention that many stone and tin mines are not exploited according to the design process, leading to environmental pollution, unsafe labor, many mines are also divided into "land use and rent collection".
Through investigation, Working Group No. II also discovered hundreds of illegal stone sawing and processing workshops. Most of these workshop owners do not have quarries, mainly buying stones illegally or illegally mining stones. There are 3 basic contents of environmental compliance that are not available: No permission from competent authorities to establish processing facilities; no land to build infrastructure, especially environmental treatment systems; no technological equipment to ensure labor safety and the environment. Along Tho Hop and Dong Hop communes, dozens of private stone processing workshops have "sprouted" up, waste stones and sludge are freely "extruded" onto the road, even letting waste flow directly into streams. Besides, the illegal gold mining situation is quite hot, mainly concentrated in Nghia Dan, Quy Chau and Que Phong districts.
First steps to restore discipline in mineral management
Lieutenant Colonel Nguyen Viet Nhi added: Before the time when Task Force II was assigned to "camp" on Highway 48, the situation was very complicated. Especially in Quy Hop, there were 113 mines, where illegal tin mining was rampant. Local people and people from the northern provinces flooded into the forest to dig deep caves about 60-70 m, 500-1,000 m long... The tunnels were simply supported, the risk of collapse was very high, there were times when Task Force II organized forces to risk their lives to go deep into the caves to call and mobilize over 300 people to crawl out of the deep tunnels.
With the decisive deployment of Working Group No. II, discipline in mineral management has been initially restored. The group has coordinated with the commune police to dismantle machinery and water taps of illegal tin miners, and has cleared hotspots of illegal tin mining in Chau Hong, Chau Tien, and Chau Thanh communes. Specifically, over 900 illegal tin miners were expelled; 38 motorbikes were temporarily detained, 100 illegal tin miners were detained and handed over to Chau Hong commune; 6 illegal tin processing sites were cleared. Regarding disputed tin mine sites, Working Group No. II has currently inspected and organized 3 meetings with mine owners, signed commitments between mine owners not to mine beyond the boundary, and suspended the operations of mine owners who deliberately violated the boundaries.
In particular, it has promptly prevented crimes and violations of the law on the act of storing and trading raw unprocessed tin to China. According to the investigation of Working Group No. II, Quy Hop area has 19 tin mines, in 2011 the output reached 350 tons. While the amount of tin bandits flooded the market, over 1,000 tons were mostly sold to China, Chau Hong commune alone had 6 tin processing workshops. Working Group No. II has eliminated 6 of these tin processing locations. The group also organized the arrest of many cases of illegal tin transportation and sale to China.
According to Lieutenant Colonel Nguyen Viet Nhi: For a long time, the problem of illegal gold mining in Que Phong has been quite painful, mainly in the two communes of Quang Phong and Cam Muon, along the streams, people have been digging indiscriminately. Some people even brought in excavators to dig, clearing streams and rice fields of the people. Currently, the Provincial People's Committee has granted a gold mining license to Bac Son Company Limited in Khe Quya area, Cam Muon commune - Que Phong.
However, taking advantage of the Tet holiday, people still illegally mined gold in the licensed area. Soldiers of Task Force No. II deployed forces to the upstream of Khe Quya to chase away and confiscated dozens of generators, taps, and illegal gold mining equipment... The current difficulty is that due to the remote location, when the Task Force withdrew, the "gold thieves" brought out machines to steal again. Regarding the licensed unit, Bac Son Company Limited, Task Force No. II requested the Company to sign a commitment to ensure environmental restoration at the mining site, and to regularly inspect to make timely corrections.
Van Truong
