Many violations at the blasting company caused rocks and soil to fly onto National Highway 1A.

In mid-December, the inspection team of the People's Committee of Hoang Mai town was still conducting inspections after residents complained about the quarry of Hoang Mai Stone Joint Stock Company blasting, affecting houses. This is the quarry that Nghe An Newspaper recently reported on.Danger lurks in the process of exploitation and production.

Meanwhile, a leader of the Department of Industry and Trade said that after the press reported that this quarry exploded and threw explosives onto National Highway 1A, affecting traffic safety, the leader of the Department of Industrial Safety Techniques and Environment, Ministry of Industry and Trade, also came to inspect and make a record. Hoang Mai Stone Joint Stock Company immediately had its license to use industrial explosives revoked.

The Inspectorate of the Department of Natural Resources and Environment said that in June 2023, the unit also conducted an inspection at the quarry of Hoang Mai Stone Joint Stock Company. The results showed that the quarry had many violations, shortcomings, and limitations. Specifically, Hoang Mai Stone Joint Stock Company carried out the exploitation of the Northern moong without ensuring compliance with the technical design for the exploitation of Hoang Mai B limestone quarry (Quynh Thien ward, Hoang Mai town) which had been approved, violating the 2010 Mineral Law.

Hoang Mai Stone Joint Stock Company has not fully implemented some contents in the approved Environmental Impact Assessment Report, which is a violation of the Law on Environmental Protection 2020. There is no complete system for treating stone dust, no equipment for filtering and dust residue, no dust collection with filter bags during the drilling and blasting process, and no trees have been planted. In addition, the company has not reported or prepared a dossier to request an environmental license as prescribed in Point d, Clause 2, Article 42, Law on Environmental Protection 2020.

According to the inspection results, Hoang Mai Stone Joint Stock Company has not fully implemented its responsibilities as a source of hazardous waste during the mineral exploitation process, which is a violation of Decree No. 38/2015/ND-CP dated April 24, 2015 of the Government on waste and scrap management and Circular No. 30/2015/TT-BTNMT dated June 30, 2015 of the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment on hazardous waste management. Specifically, it has not signed a contract with a unit with the function of transporting and collecting hazardous waste; has not arranged a storage area for hazardous waste and tools, equipment, and materials that meet the requirements and techniques as prescribed.

Lack of government oversight

Immediately after making the inspection record, on June 9, 2023, the Inspectorate of the Department of Natural Resources and Environment sent a document to the People's Committee of Hoang Mai town and the People's Committee of Quynh Thien ward to urge and supervise the implementation after the inspection.

Accordingly, the Inspectorate of the Department of Natural Resources and Environment requests the People's Committee of Hoang Mai town and the People's Committee of Quynh Thien ward to supervise the remediation of the existing problems and violations of Hoang Mai Stone Joint Stock Company as stated in the Inspection Record dated June 6, 2023; after the deadline specified in the Record, if the company fails to remedy the problems or commits violations in the field of natural resources and environment during its mineral exploitation activities, it shall handle them according to its authority or recommend that the competent authority handle them in accordance with the provisions of law, and at the same time notify the results of the handling to the Inspectorate of the Department of Natural Resources and Environment.

Specifically, in the minutes, the Inspector of the Department of Natural Resources and Environment requested Hoang Mai Stone Joint Stock Company to remedy existing violations such as: Carry out mining activities in accordance with the approved technical design of the mine. The deadline for correction is before August 30, 2023; Install a stone dust treatment system, filtering and dust suppression equipment to minimize dust during mining before August 30, 2023; Report and prepare a dossier to request an environmental license on November 30, 2023.

This company is also responsible for arranging a hazardous waste storage area and tools and equipment that meet the requirements and techniques prescribed before October 30, 2023, transferring hazardous waste to a facility with an appropriate environmental license for treatment according to regulations.

However, the local government then did not organize supervision of the process of correcting the violations that had been pointed out. Responding to this issue, Ms. Nguyen Thi Huong - Head of the Department of Natural Resources and Environment, Hoang Mai town, said that the People's Committee of the town did not receive a document from the Inspectorate of the Department of Natural Resources and Environment to conduct supervision.

“A few days ago, we learned that the Inspectorate of the Department of Natural Resources and Environment had inspected and requested the People's Committee of Hoang Mai town to supervise. We have contacted them to request documents and have now established a team to inspect. However, we have not yet met the company's leaders to work,” said Ms. Huong, adding that recently, after the incident of this quarry blasting causing rocks and soil to fall onto National Highway 1A, the Ministry of Industry and Trade inspected and revoked the license to use industrial explosives, but the locality was not informed.

According to the reporter, this limestone quarry is located next to National Highway 1A, was granted a mining license in 1995, with a reserve of 11 million tons, and the mining period is until October 2025. The closest quarry is the North-South railway. On the mountain, many large rocks that were thrown out after the blast are still lying precariously, waiting to roll down the railway.

Not only do rocks fall on houses, but each time a mine explodes, rocks often fall on the surface of National Highway 1A, posing a danger to passersby. Therefore, when it is time to explode, Hoang Mai Stone Joint Stock Company sends people to block vehicles on National Highway 1A from passing through this area to ensure safety.

The most recent incident, on November 8, after the blast, many large and small stones were scattered all over the highway. Some stones were more than 20cm in diameter. Many of them even hit and damaged the guardrails on the side of the road. Because before the blast, the company had people block Highway 1A through this area, there was no damage to people or vehicles.

In April 2021, the People's Committee of Nghe An province repeatedly issued documents requesting the company to move the stone grinding station and raw materials, railway sleepers out of the 10m range from the railway corridor before May 15, 2021. However, Hoang Mai Stone Joint Stock Company did not comply.

The leaders of Hoang Mai Town People's Committee admitted that, in the past time, through inspection work and according to people's feedback, the mineral exploitation activities of Hoang Mai Stone Joint Stock Company still have some shortcomings such as: Exploitation is not in accordance with the design approved by competent authorities; there are still potential labor safety violations in exploitation; there are some dangerous hanging stone mounds that pose a risk of causing safety violations; during the exploitation, production and transportation process, dust is emitted, affecting the environment; at some times, blasting causes rocks to fly onto the railway and National Highway 1A.