Tuong Duong: Devastated by... illegal gold miners.
For a long time, the "Four Yen" area (comprising the communes of Yen Na, Yen Tinh, Yen Hoa, and Yen Thang) in Tuong Duong district (Nghe An province) has been plagued by illegal gold mining. The indiscriminate and disorganized exploitation of alluvial gold has negatively impacted the lives of local people. Due to the lack of planned mining, streams, fields, and roads in many areas have been severely damaged, water sources are seriously polluted, and arable land is gradually shrinking...
(Baonghean.vn) -For a long time, the "Four Yen" area (comprising the communes of Yen Na, Yen Tinh, Yen Hoa, and Yen Thang) in Tuong Duong district (Nghe An province) has been plagued by illegal gold mining. The indiscriminate and disorganized exploitation of alluvial gold has negatively impacted the lives of local people. Due to the lack of planned mining, streams, fields, and roads in many areas have been severely damaged, water sources are seriously polluted, and arable land is gradually shrinking...
Not to mention that alluvial gold mining is the main cause of recent flash floods, landslides, and mudslides. Furthermore, the influx of dozens, even hundreds, of people from other areas mining gold disrupts social order and gives rise to various social ills such as drug addiction, gambling, and prostitution.
Excavators are digging up the Chà Hạ ravine – a location close to the national highway – posing a risk of road collapse on National Highway 48C (the photos in this article were taken at 5:30 PM on August 28, 2012, in Bản Bón, Yên Na commune, Tương Dương district).
They turned the entire rice paddy upside down.
The bulldozer completely destroyed a section of the asphalt road connecting the communes.
In late August, while traveling through the communes of Yen Thang, Yen Hoa, and Yen Na, we observed that gold mining was still rampant and widespread, despite repeated warnings from the press. The Huoi Nguyen River, Cha Ha stream, and many other streams were repeatedly dug up, their waters stained a deep red and constantly thick with mud. Many hills and mountains were devastated by the excavation.
In particular, the rice paddies and agricultural land along the Chà Hạ stream are being extensively excavated by machinery, turning them into massive piles of rocks and gravel. Especially in Bản Bón village, Yên Na commune, numerous excavators and bulldozers, along with dozens of illegal gold miners, are relentlessly digging up the rice paddies and cultivated land of the local people. Even more seriously, these bulldozers and excavators are even "eating away" at the edges of the asphalt road connecting the communes (from Cửa Rào to Yên Hòa, linking to National Highway 48C). With these "eaten away," a single heavy rainstorm could cause landslides and road collapses, posing a significant danger and negatively impacting the lives of the people, inevitably leading to traffic congestion.
It's worth noting that when we stopped our car to film, the gold miners in Bon village were pointing and gesticulating defiantly. Some even chased after our car to cause trouble. The rampant alluvial gold mining in Tuong Duong has been leaving serious consequences, with illegal gold miners continuing to brazenly destroy rivers and streams in the Tuong Duong area.
Given the large-scale gold mining taking place right next to the national highway, how could the authorities be unaware, or are turning a blind eye, or are they unable to control it? It is currently the rainy season, and if this illegal gold mining continues unchecked, the risk of flash floods and landslides in the area is unavoidable.
Tuong Anh