Mineral Exploitation Management: Issues Raised

(Baonghean) - Currently, mineral exploitation activities in our province are taking place quite massively, mineral reserves are increasingly depleted; environmental pollution, riverbank erosion... are increasingly serious. Therefore, authorities at all levels, functional sectors and localities need to tighten the management of exploiting this resource.

Common mistakes

Right next to the road to the center of Tri Le commune (Que Phong), there is a mine that is still in its original state of being dug up; holes tens of meters deep and wide in the form of open-pit mining that have not been restored or reclaimed after mining. Through discussions with Que Phong district officials, it is known that this is the mine of Lam Le Phong Company Limited to exploit ore. This mine was licensed in 2009 for a period of 5 years. In February 2014, the enterprise closed the mine. Recently, Que Phong district has established many inspection teams and requested the enterprise to restore, reclaim, and restore the environment after mining, but the enterprise has not complied. Although the mining period has expired, the enterprise has only paid a quarter of the environmental protection deposit compared to the total amount to be paid (41/166 million VND).

As for the mine of Ngoc Sang Company Limited in Tri Le, which has a 5-year exploitation period (2010 - 2015), it has not been granted a processing license, but the company still grinds, screens, settles and filters ores, and discharges wastewater directly into the environment. The company's compliance with tax obligations is also not serious. Currently, the company owes more than 5 billion VND in resource tax, environmental protection fees and land rent, and has only paid 60/130 million VND... Mr. Nguyen Quoc Lam - Head of the Department of Natural Resources and Environment of Que Phong district, admitted: "The situation of violating the provisions of the law in mineral exploitation in Que Phong is quite common. The implementation of environmental restoration deposits is not complete. Meanwhile, the local government has not taken drastic measures to handle it." In the past time, the district has strengthened supervision and promptly reported and recommended to all levels and sectors for handling. However, in Que Phong, the mineral sites are scattered, mainly in remote areas, while the force is thin and difficult to control. In particular, the situation of alluvial gold mining is extremely complicated, in addition to organized illegal mining, there is also the participation of people, making it difficult to push back.

According to the monitoring delegation, the Economic - Budget Committee of the Provincial People's Council, not only in Que Phong but the situation of violating the law on mineral exploitation is happening commonly in all localities with minerals in the province.

Specifically, in Quy Hop district, 95/145 enterprises producing and trading in the mineral sector violated the mining process according to the basic design, owed resource tax, environmental protection tax, deposits and environmental restoration after mining. On the other hand, Quy Hop tin after mining was smuggled to China, leading to loss of resources and tax revenue. Or in Tan Ky and Do Luong districts, the situation of mining not in accordance with the basic design is common at construction stone mines, causing a great risk of labor safety. Mr. Nguyen Tat Thanh - Chairman of Do Luong District People's Committee, said: The reason is that people's demand for sand is very high, while the licensing procedure is too slow. Currently, in Do Luong district, there are 8 exploration enterprises but only 1 enterprise has been licensed to mine sand. Due to the huge pressure on workers' jobs and income, while the force and means for inspection and control are thin and the sanctions are not strong enough, it is very difficult to rectify.

The Economic - Budget Committee of the Provincial People's Council supervises compliance with mineral laws at Hoang Danh Company Limited (Tan Ky).

Tighten management

In recent times, the province has established many working groups to directly inspect, examine, and eliminate illegal mineral exploitation and has initially restored order in mineral exploitation activities in the province. The Provincial People's Committee has also issued many documents, most recently Decision No. 58/2013/QD-UBND, dated October 25, 2013 on the coordination regulations in the management of mineral resources in Nghe An province. Accordingly, the responsibilities of sectors as well as district and commune levels in the State management of minerals have been clearly assigned. However, the current difficulty is the lack of human resources for coordination. Most typically, in early April, the Provincial People's Committee decided to establish two interdisciplinary groups to inspect mineral exploitation, focusing on stone and construction materials, but so far, the sectors have only arranged enough people to establish one group. In addition, the proactive participation and coordination of some sectors is still limited.

From the above practice, according to some opinions, on the basis of decentralization and specific assignment of tasks in mineral management, the content and field belong to which sector and level, that sector and level are responsible for taking the lead in resolving the existing problems and shortcomings without needing an interdisciplinary team as before (for example, the Department of Construction must take care of illegal exploitation; violations of labor safety and hygiene belong to the Department of Labor - Invalids and Social Affairs; related to the management of industrial explosives belong to the Department of Industry and Trade...). Regarding environmental protection in mineral exploitation, the Director of the Department of Natural Resources and Environment, Mr. Vo Duy Viet, said: According to regulations, whichever level is responsible for appraising and approving reports or environmental protection commitments, that level is responsible for taking the lead in monitoring, inspecting and handling. In practice, enterprises licensed to exploit minerals in the province mainly make environmental protection commitments implemented by the district level. Therefore, the primary responsibility for environmental protection at mining sites belongs to the district level; the Department of Natural Resources and Environment, which has the function of State management of environmental protection activities, will continue to direct, urge, and guide localities to strengthen environmental protection activities.

Regarding the work of restoring and reclaiming land after mining, before the Provincial Environmental Protection Fund was established, the environmental deposit was made by enterprises through banks or district treasuries; some enterprises were slow to pay only a part, some enterprises did not pay at all. The Department of Natural Resources and Environment is guiding localities to review and count mining sites, and where environmental restoration and reclaiming land have not been carried out, enterprises must do so; otherwise, it will advise the Provincial People's Committee to direct banks to transfer the money that enterprises have deposited to the districts to carry out environmental restoration.

The issue of some mineral processing establishments without licenses will be resolved in two ways. Firstly, any establishment that does not violate planning and does not affect the environment will be required to complete the procedures to be licensed according to regulations. Secondly, if any establishment builds in violation of planning and affects the environment, it will be resolutely terminated. Regarding tax debts of enterprises, there are currently enough sanctions to handle them, the issue is to review and focus on handling them, avoiding entanglement, backlog and tax loss in this field. As for illegal mineral exploitation activities, according to the 2010 Mineral Law and Decision 58 of the Provincial People's Committee, the role of district and commune authorities is extremely important. Therefore, districts and communes need to strengthen inspection, supervision, expulsion, and mobilize the whole society to restore order in their own areas.

Obviously, in order to effectively monitor and resolve existing problems and shortcomings in mineral exploitation today, sectors and levels need to clearly see their responsibilities; at the same time, step up propaganda and raise awareness for mine owners; strictly implement regulations on mineral exploitation; tighten management... thereby restoring discipline in mineral exploitation.

Plum Blossom