Final article: Violations in mineral exploitation must be strictly handled.

Most districts along National Highway 7A have mineral resources such as: gold, placer gold, various ores, construction stones, sand, gravel widely distributed in many areas, concentrated in complex areas. State management of minerals in the area still shows some limitations, somewhat lax, leading to many subjects in provinces such as Thai Nguyen, Thanh Hoa, Ninh Binh... together with local people gathering in the western districts to illegally mine gold, causing serious environmental pollution in rivers, streams, and streams, affecting labor safety and security and order in the area.

Therefore, the Provincial People's Committee issued Decision No. 2636 dated July 8, 2011 on establishing working groups to inspect and handle illegal mineral exploitation activities in the whole province, in which Group No. 1 was assigned to inspect and handle mineral exploitation activities in the districts along National Highway 7A from July 26 to August 26, 2011. With its responsible role, the group directly worked with the People's Committees of the districts along National Highway 7A to grasp the situation, advise the People's Committees of the districts to issue directive decisions, send officials to join the inspection group, direct the Chairmen of the People's Committees of communes and towns to coordinate with the group, prepare to receive the site after the group handed over, and at the same time coordinate with the People's Committees of the districts to simultaneously launch inter-sectoral coordination to crack down on illegal mineral exploitation activities, deploy measures to combat and handle, contributing to stabilizing the situation, ensuring security and order in the area. At the end of the working session, the delegation prepared documents to handle 6 administrative violations in the field of minerals, advising the Provincial and District People's Committees to impose a fine of 210 million VND.

However, the areas of the districts along National Highway 7A are mainly high mountains, illegal mining activities (mainly placer gold in remote areas), each trip to the mining sites often takes a lot of time. There are cases where the team has discovered and handled the cases, but because the commune People's Committee is many kilometers away from the forest road, stream, the vehicles such as excavators, generators, dredgers, and tools for gold mining cannot be brought back. The subjects are usually from other provinces, when the team comes to inspect, they often escape into the forest, making it difficult to inspect and confiscate the violating tools. Moreover, the team has 14 people operating in a large area but only has 1 old Uoat vehicle that is often broken down, affecting the work process.

2- Comrade Nguyen Phuoc Lam - Head of the Department of Natural Resources and Environment of Que Phong district: The district will request Tan Hong Company to stop buying agricultural land for gold mining. Currently, in the district, there are 2 main gold mining entities, which are licensed companies and illegal mining entities (gold thieves and gold bandits).

For licensed companies, we continue to conduct regular inspections and, if violations are detected, we will handle them immediately. As for illegal gold mining activities, we continue to inspect and sweep, and coordinate with licensed mining companies in the area to conduct patrols and sweeps. The Provincial People's Committee has issued Official Dispatch No. 4898 UBND-TN "on mineral protection management in Cam Muon commune, Que Phong district" assigning the Department of Natural Resources and Environment to coordinate with Que Phong district to set up field markers as a basis for protecting assigned mining sites.

Currently, the People's Committee of Que Phong district together with the Party Committee of Cam Muon commune has coordinated with Lac Viet Media Joint Stock Company to sweep away gold thieves and bandits along Khe Quya in Cam Muon commune. Establish and approve a plan to protect mineral resources in the area of ​​Cac Pom to the end of Khe Quya, responsible for directing, managing, protecting and preventing illegal mineral exploitation.

Regarding the issue that Nghe An Newspaper has reported that in Quang Phong commune (Que Phong district), there are some areas of reclaimed rice land from farmers that Tan Hong Company bought back for the purpose of gold mining, we have not heard the report from Quang Phong commune. We will immediately check, if the above situation exists, the district will request Tan Hong Company to stop buying agricultural land from people, and only exploit in licensed areas.

3- Mr. Nguyen Ho Canh - Chairman of Tuong Duong District People's Committee: Continue to propagate and educate the people extensively. Recently, when hearing the news that Khe Bo Hydropower Reservoir will be filled with water at the end of October 2011, people living along Lam River bought generators to mine gold. In addition, there are also people from the Northern provinces who participate in illegal gold mining.

Faced with the above complicated situation, the district has promoted the leadership and direction of Party committees at all levels, the political system, and the State's management role in mineral exploitation in the Resolution of Party Congresses at all levels. The district regularly directs departments, along with the police and district military forces, to regularly inspect and resolutely handle violations.

Expel and expel organizations and individuals illegally mining gold from the area. From 2007 to May 2011, the district has punished 41 subjects violating the mineral sector, imposing fines of 293 million VND. In the first 6 months of 2011 alone, the district organized 47 raids, confiscated 24 Dong Phong generators, destroyed 3 machines, 2 air compressors, suspended 86 cases of violation...

However, the inspections and raids are still temporary and not thorough, so people often secretly mine for gold illegally during their time off from farming. In the coming time, the district will continue to widely propagate to the people. Organize households to sign a commitment with the district and commune not to participate in or cover up illegal gold mining. Link hunger eradication and poverty reduction quickly and sustainably through synchronous investment in programs and projects in the area, improve people's lives to prevent illegal gold mining.

Mr. Hoang Danh Lai - Deputy Director of the Department of Natural Resources and Environment of Nghe An province: For enterprises, before applying for a license to exploit gold, they need to have a complete capacity assessment file to avoid the situation where after being licensed, they transfer or divide the mine into small pieces. For illegal and licensed gold exploitation, first of all, the district and commune level agencies in the area need to inspect, monitor and handle. If it exceeds their authority, continue to report to higher levels for inspection and strict handling.

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