Thinking about the 'golden navel' of Ta Soi…

"Traces" at the foot of Oc Mountain

We knew the name Ta Soi around 2014 - 2015. At that time, Ta Soi - a mountainous area in Chau Hanh commune, districtQuy Chau(old) – appeared in the press quite “thickly”. The reason is that there are gold minerals here, and because of gold, it leads to “bandit” mining causing many consequences, especially the problem of environmental pollution, making the Party Committee and the government of Quy Chau district at that time very hard to sweep and expel.

In mid-August 2025, the name Ta Soi suddenly reappeared on some written pages, spread through social networks with the information: There is a business licensed to carry out a gold mining project in Ta Soi, and they have taken the initial steps.

The information was a bit sudden. As we know, the “bandit” gold mining has been pushed back over time. By around 2019, the “Ta Soi gold area” had sunk into oblivion, replaced by the Ta Soi raw material area. But “a hundred hearings are not as good as one seeing”, we went up to Ta Soi.

Unlike the "golden areas" of Huoi Hang (former Que Phong district) or Ban Xan, Pu Phen (former Tuong Duong district)..., the road to Ta Soi is quite convenient. Follow National Highway 48 through Quy Chau commune, turn right at Khe Han bridge to follow the trail, up the mountain slope for about 30 minutes through many patches of raw acacia forests to the foot of Oc mountain. Here, the guide, Mr. Cao Van Tu, an officer of Quy Chau Forest Protection Department, turned on the device to look at the coordinates, then said: "This is the area where the gold mining project is carried out, also the "golden navel" of Ta Soi...".

Oc Mountain (called Len Hoi or Pha Hoi by the Thai people) is a towering rocky mountain. Surrounding Oc Mountain are sloping earthen mountains and green acacia forests. Looking down from the middle of Oc Mountain, there are two winding streams in the valleys created by the earthen mountains. According to Tu, the Ta Soi people call them Bo stream and Hin Lap stream. Asked if he knows the history of the "Ta Soi gold land"? Tu said he had only been in this area for a while. But he revealed that there was a man who had been running a livestock farm at the foot of Oc Mountain for many years, and could answer the questions we wanted to know.

We met the man at the foot of Oc mountain, his name is Nguyen Huu Khieu, he is small but active and agile. Mr. Khieu said he is from the North, has a house in Cho Moi hamlet, Tan Lac town (old), is the son-in-law of Ta Soi village and has organized a livestock farm at the foot of Oc mountain for over 10 years. Then, with the "capital" of information accumulated over the years, Khieu told us everything. From the old days of the "Ta Soi gold area" passed down by the elders of Ta Soi village, the "ups and downs" of the period when there was "bandit" gold mining...

Connecting the information, since the feudal colonial period, the French discovered that the Ta Soi area had gold minerals, and they organized mining. Although it has faded over time, around Oc mountain there are still traces of the French left behind in the form of bunkers, railways... Including the sloping hills close to Oc mountain, which are the waste dump system of the French during the mining process. And it is the traces of the French mining left behind that are the foundation for a geological unit to go to Ta Soi to open an entrance and organize exploration. The result of the exploration was to locate the Ta Soi area with a number of locations containing gold ore, as the locals often call them furnace 2A, furnace 2B, furnace 5 and furnace 6.

Around 1993 - 1994, in Ta Soi, the situation of "bandit" gold mining began to flourish. People from all over the North, districts in the province, and local people came here to search for gold. There were many "gold wells" in the area of ​​​​mine 2A, mine 5, but after many years, they were filled up by floods, but the tragic stories are still remembered by the local people. Among them, there was an incident where a family of 3 from Ninh Binh went to Ta Soi to search for gold, but unfortunately, two people died when going down the "gold well"...

The "bandit" gold mining in groups persisted until around 2014 - 2015 when it basically stopped. In recent years, there have been occasional groups digging for gold, but they were all discovered by local authorities, who inspected and confiscated their equipment. In March this year, a group of people went to the foot of Oc mountain to dig for gold, but were discovered by local people who reported to the authorities, who organized forces to drive them away...

From the stories we heard, we asked Mr. Nguyen Huu Khieu to take us to see the remaining traces around Oc Mountain. At the location where the group of illegal miners exploited in March 2025, due to heavy rains in July, only a landslide remained halfway up Oc Mountain. But the "trenches" of the "geological unit" were still intact. The "trenches" were holes 4-5m deep, nearly 1m wide, and about 8m long. Although covered by bushes, the edges and corners of the holes were square and sharp, proving the activities of people taking soil and rock samples to explore for minerals...

Project "started" after 7 years of licensing

Leaving Ta Soi, through different sources we were able to access the Mineral Exploitation License No. 3906/GP-BTNMT dated February 27, 2018 issued by the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment (old) to Do Linh Joint Stock Company along with some related documents.

Information on License No. 3906/GP-BTNMT shows that Do Linh Joint Stock Company is allowed to exploit gold ore by open-pit and underground methods in Ta Soi area, Chau Hanh commune, Quy Chau district (now Quy Chau commune). The mining area is 40 hectares (open-pit mining from level +237m to level +129m, underground mining from level +200m to level +130m); the mineral reserves allowed to be included in the mining design are 56,820 tons of ore, containing 327.3 kg of gold.

The exploited reserve is 55,073 tons of ore, containing 314.66 kg of gold; of which 21,888 tons of ore are mined from open pit (containing 74.96 kg of gold), 33,185 tons of ore are mined from underground mine (containing 239.7 kg of gold). Mining capacity is 2,350 tons of ore/year (1,000 tons of ore/year is mined from open pit, 1,350 tons of ore/year is mined from underground mine); open pit mining period is 24.5 years (2.5 years for basic construction of the mine); underground mining period is 27.5 years (2.5 years for basic construction of the mine).

In License No. 3906/GP-BTNMT, the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment (old) proposed many contents, requiring Do Linh Joint Stock Company to implement. Such as paying fees according to current regulations; paying fees for granting mineral exploitation rights; organizing gold ore exploitation according to the prescribed coordinates, area, depth, reserves, and capacity. At the same time, it is required that before proceeding with exploitation, the mine design must be prepared, appraised, and approved in accordance with the provisions of law to the competent state agency; reporting to the Department of Natural Resources and Environment of Nghe An province (old) for on-site inspection, determining coordinates, exploitation ground and marking boundaries of the permitted exploitation area; and carrying out procedures for converting land use purposes according to the provisions of law.

In particular, it is necessary to fully implement the content of the environmental impact assessment report and the provisions of the law on environmental protection; and to be responsible for protecting the environment in mineral exploitation according to regulations...

With the above information, a question arises: Licensed since 2018, but why has it been 7 years since Do Linh Joint Stock Company has not implemented the gold mining project? The answer is in Report No. 169/2024/HDKS-DL dated January 6, 2025 of Do Linh Joint Stock Company sent to the Department of Natural Resources and Environment (old). Accordingly, up to this point, Do Linh Joint Stock Company is only carrying out compensation and resettlement support for organizations and individuals using the recovered land.

But they encountered difficulties such as: "Compensation prices according to State regulations have changed"; "The price of the deposit for reforestation has also increased"; "After the company negotiated and agreed with the households on compensation, support and site clearance, the households requested a temporary suspension to wait for the new land price list, the cost of reforestation has increased, the company has to rebalance the investment finances, up to now Do Linh Joint Stock Company has submitted the site clearance documents, completed the procedures to extend the investment certificate to continue to carry out land lease procedures and proceed with mineral exploitation investment. Due to subjective and objective reasons, the investment and exploitation have been prolonged".

Also in Report No. 169/2024/HDKS-DL, Do Linh Joint Stock Company proposed: “Do Linh Joint Stock Company shall comply with the payment of mining rights and annual environmental deposit in full. Organize the protection of the mine area, prevent illegal mining, ensure safety, security and order in the area and locality. Do Linh Joint Stock Company respectfully requests the leadership of the Department of Natural Resources and Environment (old) to create conditions for the company to complete the procedures according to State regulations and quickly put the mine into operation, create jobs and income for local people, and stabilize security and order in the area”.

Information Report No. 169/2024/HDKS-DL of Do Linh Joint Stock Company was verified by Mr. Tran Dinh Phu, an expert of the Minerals Department (former Department of Agriculture and Environment). According to Mr. Phu, for the gold mining project in Ta Soi area to come into operation, the investor still has a lot of work to do. In particular, it is necessary to complete the site clearance work and re-establish the environmental impact assessment report according to regulations.

Mr. Tran Dinh Phu said: “The 40ha area that Do Linh Joint Stock Company is licensed to exploit is the State forestry land area that has been assigned to local people. To organize exploitation, the land clearance must first be completed and the State must allocate the land. On the other hand, the investor is having to consult with local authorities, re-establish the environmental impact assessment report and submit it to the competent authority for consideration and approval according to the provisions of law…”.

Worry about distant worries

As for the newly established Quy Chau commune government, they basically do not grasp the exact reason why the gold mining project in Ta Soi is slow to be implemented. But there is a viewpoint that the project has been licensed by the competent authority, so it creates conditions to complete the related procedures. However, the investor is required to strictly and fully comply with legal regulations, especially the work of ensuring security and order and environmental protection. And especially the responsibility of management in the future, when the project comes into operation.

As discussed by Vice Chairman of Quy Chau Commune People's Committee Tran Bao Linh: "We identify the responsibility to strictly manage the mining activities of enterprises and the licensed mining areas. Therefore, after the investor completes the procedures, Quy Chau Commune People's Committee will work to agree on management measures. It is necessary to build an effective monitoring mechanism to avoid consequences from gold mining activities...".

In the past few days, we have also connected with some former leaders of Quy Chau district to hear about the time when Ta Soi had "bandit" gold mining. Chairman of the People's Committee of Quy Chau district (old) Ngo Duc Thuan said that in the period of 2014 - 2015, as Vice Chairman of the District People's Committee, he was assigned the task of sweeping away illegal gold mining groups. And to carry out this task, from chasing away groups, burning camps, confiscating mining equipment... was extremely difficult. Regarding the Ta Soi gold mining project, according to Mr. Thuan, when the enterprise was licensed, carrying out the procedures to organize mining was a matter of course. But for the current responsible officials of Quy Chau commune, they should go back in time to the previous years in the gold areas of Chau Phong, Chau Nga, Chau Hanh of Quy Chau district (old), to collect data on what could happen and prepare management measures.

Mr. Ngo Duc Thuan said: "To exploit minerals, the project documents of enterprises are always in accordance with regulations, and have very good explanations. However, during the implementation process, there are often discrepancies, leading to consequences for the locality...".