Request Tan Hoang Khang Company to support all costs to overcome subsidence in Chau Hong (Quy Hop)

The Department of Natural Resources and Environment of Nghe An province has just issued a notice on overcoming existing problems in mineral activities to Tan Hoang Khang Joint Stock Company and the People's Committee of Quy Hop district.

Accordingly, based on the inspection results of the interdisciplinary inspection team and the direction of the Provincial People's Committee, the Department of Natural Resources and Environment requested Tan Hoang Khang Joint Stock Company to temporarily suspend mineral exploitation activities (tin ore and accompanying construction stone) and groundwater exploitation and pumping activities in the Pha Liu and Thung Lun areas, Chau Hong commune, Quy Hop district.

At the same time, carry out the first land registration for the land area leased by the Provincial People's Committee according to Decision No. 370/QD-UBND.DC dated June 10, 2015, area 152,644 m²in the Pha Liu and Thung Lun areas, Chau Hong commune for the purpose of mineral exploitation and as a dumping site, gathering materials, machinery, etc. for mineral exploitation; continue to carry out procedures for leasing qualified land and restore the original status for the area stated in Decision No. 65/QD-XPHC dated May 20, 2022 of the Provincial People's Committee Chairman on administrative sanctions.

Thung Lun tin mine of Tan Hoang Khang Joint Stock Company. Photo: Tien Hung

Tan Hoang Khang Joint Stock Company must have a written notice of the professional qualifications and capacity of the Mine Director for the tin mine and accompanying construction stone mine to the competent State management agency that grants mineral exploitation licenses according to regulations. Make a map of the current status of the mine, the cross-section of the current status of the area permitted for mineral exploitation annually with full information and data according to regulations and true to the current status of mineral exploitation.

The Department of Natural Resources and Environment also requested Tan Hoang Khang Joint Stock Company to prepare annual environmental protection reports according to regulations for cases under the authority of the Provincial People's Committee to approve environmental impact assessment reports; prepare annual hazardous waste management reports according to regulations; properly and fully implement the contents of the Certificate of completion of environmental protection works according to regulations. Implement anti-seepage and anti-overflow measures for ponds and wastewater reservoirs in Pha Liu and Thung Lun areas, Chau Hong commune, Quy Hop district; implement the reporting regime on wastewater discharge activities into water sources to competent State agencies; implement monitoring and supervision of wastewater quality; install wastewater discharge flow meters and wastewater flow monitoring operation books.

This enterprise is also responsible for establishing, approving, and using mine designs in accordance with the investment project, approved basic designs, and mineral exploitation licenses, and submitting approved mine designs to the competent State management agency on minerals; exploiting minerals in accordance with the clearance and preparation system and approved mine designs. Using effective labor regulations according to regulations. Building protective fences for industrial explosive warehouses according to QCVN 01/2019 of the Ministry of Industry and Trade. Establishing construction plans and construction licenses for processing plant systems, wastewater treatment tanks, operating houses, worker housing, and auxiliary works according to construction law regulations.

This company uses high-capacity pumps to pump groundwater for mineral exploitation. Photo: Tien Hung

In particular, the Department of Natural Resources and Environment requested Tan Hoang Khang Joint Stock Company to be responsible for supporting all costs to fix the problem caused by the impact of cracking and subsidence of the land. Strictly comply with the decision to sanction administrative violations of the Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee according to regulations. "Request Tan Hoang Khang Joint Stock Company to strictly implement the request to temporarily suspend mineral exploitation activities and stop all groundwater pumping activities in the Pha Liu and Thung Lun areas, Chau Hong commune; overcome the above-mentioned shortcomings, any content that has not yet reached the time to be fixed must also be reported and clarified," the document of the Department of Natural Resources and Environment stated.

Also in this document, the Department of Natural Resources and Environment requested the People's Committee of Quy Hop district to strengthen the inspection and supervision of the law enforcement in mineral activities of Tan Hoang Khang Joint Stock Company, strictly handle violations according to the law. Request Tan Hoang Khang Joint Stock Company to strictly implement the above content, report the results to the Department of Natural Resources and Environment, the People's Committee of Quy Hop district and related sectors before October 15, 2022 for monitoring, synthesizing and reporting to the Provincial People's Committee.

A house in Chau Hong commune has cracks. Photo: Tien Hung

This move was carried out under the direction of the Provincial People's Committee in the Official Dispatch dated August 25, 2022 on handling subsidence and cracking of houses in Chau Hong commune, Quy Hop district and announcing the conclusion of Comrade Nguyen Duc Trung - Deputy Secretary of the Provincial Party Committee, Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee at the meeting to listen to the handling results of the interdisciplinary inspection team; results of geological survey to find the cause of subsidence and cracking and the work of inspection and assessment of the quality of affected works in Chau Hong commune, Quy Hop district.

Previously, as Nghe An Newspaper has reported many times, since the end of 2019, many wells in Chau Hong commune have dried up. This was followed by cracking and subsidence of houses, threatening the lives of people. Up to now, the commune has recorded 249 houses with unusual cracks and subsidence of ground. The initial cause was determined to be that the mining enterprise had depleted the groundwater source.

The leader of Chau Hong commune said that since Tan Hoang Khang Joint Stock Company stopped pumping groundwater from Thung Lun mine, from the end of May until now, no more houses have cracked or collapsed. Meanwhile, all 299 wells of the people that had previously dried up have now had water again.

Quy Hop district had to sign a contract of nearly 1 billion VND, hiring the North Central Geological Federation to survey and investigate the cause of subsidence and dry wells in Chau Hong commune. However, after many months of costly investigation, the results that this unit gave were not accepted by the District People's Committee because they believed that they were not convincing, did not ensure objectivity according to the reality in Chau Hong commune in the past time, and did not specifically identify the subjective cause of groundwater subsidence, causing subsidence and dry wells, but only stated general causes. The results of determining the cause did not meet the expectations of the District People's Committee as well as the people of Chau Hong commune...

Tien Hung