Vice Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee inspects mineral activities in Yen Thanh and Nghi Loc districts

In Yen Thanh district, the delegation inspected the Voi cliff area, which borders Nam Thanh and Trung Thanh communes. There are currently four licensed quarries in this area. In addition, the delegation also inspected a number of earthworks in Dong Thanh commune.

According to the report of Yen Thanh District People's Committee,mineral resourcesThere are not many types and reserves of minerals in this district. Currently, the whole district has 15 enterprises operating in mineral exploitation. In addition, from 2021 to 2022, the Provincial People's Committee also approved the results of the auction of mineral exploitation rights for 7 mine sites. However, because the units are carrying out procedures for mineral exploration, site clearance and conversion of forest land purposes, they have not been put into exploitation yet.

In recent times, although the People's Committee of Yen Thanh district and agencies, departments and branches have had many drastic directions, many violations in mineral activities still occurred in the area. Specifically, in 2022, the authorities inspected and detected 50 cases of violations in illegal land leveling and mineral exploitation, and established records to handle administrative violations against 41 cases, with a total fine of 378 million VND.

In the first 6 months of 2023, in Yen Thanh district, there were also 23 cases of violations of the law on illegal mineral exploitation, and the authorities also imposed fines of more than 400 million VND.

In particular, at some quarries, mining is not in accordance with the design documents approved by competent authorities and there is a risk of affecting the safety of adjacent quarries such as at Len Co quarry (Dong Thanh); Len Voi quarry (bordering Trung Thanh, Nam Thanh)...

In addition, many enterprises have been granted licenses to exploit minerals for a long time and have built auxiliary works, but have not yet carried out land lease procedures according to regulations for mineral processing areas and waste dumps.

On the same day, the working group also inspected a number of land fill mines in Nghi Hung commune (Nghi Loc), which have been licensed to exploit for the construction of the North-South expressway, as well as to level the ground for the WHA Industrial Zone 1 - Nghe An Industrial Park Project.

In Nghi Loc district, there are currently 18 units licensed by the Provincial People's Committee to exploit and recover construction stone and land fill minerals. Basically, the locations of licensed mines are mainly far from residential areas. Meanwhile, the licensing period for mineral exploitation and recovery activities is often long (from 10 to 20 years), the boundary markers of the assigned mine scope are sometimes lost, making it difficult to monitor and promptly handle mining units that exceed the boundary markers. Some units exploiting stone for common construction materials do not conduct mining according to design documents, some mineral exploitation projects do not have documents on the exploitation plan during the inspection process, so inspection to handle violations is difficult.

Not to mention, the process of exploitation and transportation often causes environmental pollution with dust, soil and rock falling into the environment, and many road damage, causing frustration for the people.

After conducting field inspections at mineral exploitation sites in Yen Thanh and Nghi Loc districts, the working group noted the recommendations and proposals of localities and mineral exploitation business owners. In particular, the districts all wish that the Provincial People's Committee direct, urge and handle enterprises that have been approved for the auction results of mineral exploitation rights for land leveling, but have not completed the land allocation and land lease documents for exploitation, affecting the supply of land leveling. Guide and create favorable conditions for enterprises that have been granted Mining Licenses to promptly complete land lease documents (including the area serving mining and ancillary works...), and complete the procedures to start exploitation effectively.

The districts also hope that the Provincial People's Committee will soon issue a mechanism to allocate budget sources for environmental protection fees in mineral exploitation activities to localities where mines are directly operating. That will contribute to better implementation of environmental protection work in mineral exploitation activities.