Sweeping away "gold thieves" in Huoi Hang (Cam Muon commune - Que Phong)
(Baonghean) -On the evening of April 3, 2013, we were able to "follow" the provincial police force to raid "gold thieves" in the Huoi Hang mountain area, in the Huoi May village, Cam Muon commune, Que Phong district, an area where illegal gold mining is a growing problem day and night...
At 5:30 a.m. on April 4, from Kim Son Town (Que Phong), we traveled a 40 km journey to Na Que Village (Cam Muon Commune). Here, we continued walking for 5 hours along Khe Quya to enter the Huoi Hang mountain area.
Along the way, at the gold mining sites in Khe Quya, except for a few sand suction machines and the remaining camps lying along the stream, no one was mining. It seemed that the "gold bandits" had realized the plan to sweep the authorities. Through the villages of Na Noi, Huoi May... we noticed that, in some houses, there were groups of about 5-10 people who looked like "gold diggers". After asking around, one person said that upon hearing that the provincial sweep team was coming, the "ringleader" had fled, hidden the gold mining equipment and together with technicians from other districts and provinces (Thai Nguyen, Nam Dinh, Hai Phong...) moved out since yesterday. At the gold mine, most of the time, there were only local hired workers guarding the camps. "Why go in there? There's no one left there because they (the brokers and gold miners from other provinces - PV) have all left. Only the locals remain," this person said.
The deeper we went, the more groups of 5-7 people carrying luggage came out. When asked, some people from Cam Pom, Cam Noc, Cam Cang villages (Cam Muon commune) said: "We had just been in the mine for a few days, but when we heard the owner say that a group was about to come in to raid, we had to go back". On the way, there were still many people carrying rice, food, drinks, gasoline... to the Huoi Hang mountain area. A member of the raid team who was a local said: "In the flow of people going in and out of the Huoi Hang area, it is very difficult to distinguish who is farming or who is "gold digger". The government cannot prohibit people from going and bringing rice, clothes, lamp oil, blankets into the forest because in reality there are hundreds of households farming and grazing cattle". In reality, some people transport food for themselves, but many people provide supply services for the gold mining force. A young man named Tham, a native of Huoi May village, said: Regardless of what goods are transported to the beach, they are all hired for 130 - 150 thousand VND/10 kg. Therefore, on average, every day, people here, as long as they are healthy, especially women, earn about 500 - 700 thousand VND...
At 11:30, we arrived at the gold mine located on the top of a hill about 1000m2 wide, with many caves and deep holes, along with about 50-60 makeshift tents and absolutely no gold mining equipment or machinery. In the tents, hundreds of people were lying and sitting haphazardly, and they seemed not surprised to see dozens of police officers in full uniform entering the mine... Approaching a few camps to find out, we learned that here, the mining was organized into groups led by brokers from Thai Nguyen, Hai Phong, Vinh City. Each group invested in buying pumps, drills, grinders, generators, and building water pipes... to mine gold. According to a gold miner named Lo Van Em (in Cam Pom village), the villagers only work to transport soil to the grinding trough, panning... while the work of digging along the rock veins to find gold is done by Thai Nguyen technicians. The villagers are paid from 150,000 to 200,000 VND/day. There are lucky groups that collect about 2-3 taels of gold (92% grade) per day. Also according to Mr. Em, the gold mine used to be a field of the villagers, from around August 2012, a group of 6 people from Thai Nguyen came to mine. After that, some villagers discovered it and also participated in making gold. The news spread from there and at the end of January 2013, many brokers from other places poured in and people from villages in Cam Muon, Quang Phong, Chau Thon, Chau Kim... due to lack of work came to work for hire.
The raid force inspected the gold mines.
Having been to many illegal gold mining sites, we have never seen such a high level of danger as here. The gold mine is full of holes about 1.5m wide and 16 - 40m deep. From the bottom of the holes, "gold thieves" dig many deep caves to search for gold along the young rock layers, some of which are hundreds of meters long. Therefore, the foot of the hill has holes, which is clearly shown by the many large cracks that have appeared on the surface. When asked, are you not afraid of collapsing and endangering your life when entering deep tunnels? A young gold miner said: "If there is nothing to do, you have to go in anyway." Normally, how many people are there at the site? According to him, at the peak time, there were about 1,000 people at the gold mine. However, knowing that a group was coming to raid, the miners stopped mining 2 days in advance to disperse the machinery and evacuate; The remaining people at the site were mostly gold miners and local service workers who protected the camps and belongings...
In this raid, according to the original plan, at 12 noon on April 4, the raid team from Que Phong district would join the raid team from Tuong Duong to pursue and destroy the camps to hand over the clean area to the commune and district for management. However, by 3 pm on the same day, the raid team from Tuong Duong, commanded by the head of the provincial raid team (this area could not be contacted by phone), had not yet arrived, so the demolition and burning of the camps could not be carried out. Therefore, after witnessing the raid team block off the entire gold mine and persuade those who remained to leave the mine, we also set off back to Kim Son Town.
Dozens of makeshift tents and caves created by "gold thieves" on the Huoi Hang gold field
After a day without any information, at 11:30 p.m. on April 5, we were able to reconnect with the search team. Mr. Hoang Manh Trinh - an officer of the Department of Natural Resources and Environment, Deputy Head of the inspection team according to Decision 163 of the Provincial People's Committee on mineral work, said that at 8:00 p.m. on April 4, the search team from Tuong Duong reached the gold mine. After a night of holding out, at 6:30 a.m. on April 5, the search team used a machine to scan the entire gold mine and discovered 25 stone crushers, generators and 2,000 liters of diesel oil that the brokers had buried underground. The team disabled the machines, destroyed all the oil, filled in some pits, dismantled all the camps and persuaded those who held out to leave the gold mine. At 4 p.m., after the gold mine in the Huoi Hang mountain area had been cleared, the search team made a record of the current situation and handed it over to the authorities of Que Phong district and Cam Muon commune so that these two units could manage it according to Articles 2 and 3 of the Mineral Law on the management of unexploited mineral resources. Que Phong district will assign the district police and Cam Muon commune to set up checkpoints at the entrances so that the subjects still lurking in the area will not return to carry out illegal mining...
It can be seen that the raid has had certain results and the "gold bandits" in the Huoi Hang mountain area have been completely wiped out, but objectively speaking, because the information of the campaign was not kept secret, the results have not been as expected. Besides, a question that needs to be raised is, after the raid force withdraws, will the authorities of Que Phong district and Cam Muon commune be able to prevent the "gold bandits" from returning? In reality, the gold mine in the Huoi Hang mountain area is located in a remote area adjacent to Tuong Duong district, the access road is extremely dangerous and difficult, while the local force is thin, the "gold bandits" in addition to the ringleaders, the workers are mostly locals, have family and neighborhood relationships with the local authorities, so it is very difficult to handle thoroughly.
Due to gold mining, many large cracks have appeared on the surface of the hill.
The Huoi Hang mountain area, Huoi May village, Cam Muon commune, sub-region 144 (bordering San village, Huu Khuong commune, Tuong Duong) is the core area of Pu Huong Nature Reserve. Therefore, illegal gold mining here means that this Nature Reserve is being seriously encroached upon. Besides, there are risks of accidents, environmental pollution, loss of resources... Therefore, the provincial government needs to soon have effective management measures.
Long - Hai - Lan
