Nghe An Provincial People's Committee proposed the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment to conduct a comprehensive inspection of tin mining activities in Suoi Bac (Quy Hop).
On August 21, 2024, the People's Committee of Nghe An province sent Document No. 7151/UBND-NN to the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment. The content clearly stated violations and environmental pollution incidents from tin mining and processing activities in Suoi Bac area, Quy Hop district; proposed the Ministry to establish an interdisciplinary team to comprehensively inspect the law compliance of licensed enterprises.
Many violations and incidents
In Suoi Bac area, there are currently 3 units.Ministry of Natural Resources and Environmentlicensed to exploit tin ore by underground mining method, including: Ha An Tin Company Limited; Nghe Tinh Non-ferrous Metals Joint Stock Company; Hong Bao Ngoc Tin Company Limited. However, during the operation, all 3 units had shortcomings in complying with the law on natural resources and environment, leading to administrative sanctions.
Specifically, Thiec Ha An Company Limited was granted Mineral Exploitation License No. 377/GP-BTNMT by the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment on March 27, 2013, and had its environmental impact assessment (EIA) report approved by the Provincial People's Committee in Decision No. 2495/QD-UBND on July 6, 2012.
During its operation, Thiec Ha An Company Limited had some shortcomings in law enforcement, and was administratively sanctioned by the inspection team under Decision No. 1505/QD-UBND dated June 2, 2022 of the Provincial People's Committee in the field of land and water resources with an amount of 68 million VND; The inspection team under Decision No. 901/QD-BTNMT dated April 5, 2024 of the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment administratively sanctioned in the field of minerals with an amount of 250 million VND and suspended mineral exploitation activities for 4.5 months from June 4, 2024; The inspection team of Quy Hop District Police sanctioned administrative violations in the field of environmental protection with an amount of 70 million VND...
With Nghe Tinh Non-ferrous Metal Joint Stock Company, was granted Mineral Exploitation License No. 2728/GP-BTNMT on December 21, 2013. On March 9, 2017, at the mine area in Bac stream, there was an incident of a broken sludge dam causing sludge to spill into streams and streams in Chau Hong and Chau Thanh communes, leading to pollution and fish deaths in Chau Quang commune, forcing a complete stop of operations to fix the problem.
From the incident of the sludge dam break, the inspection team under Decision No. 377/QD-BTNMT dated March 13, 2017 of the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment determined that Nghe Tinh Non-ferrous Metals Joint Stock Company had some shortcomings in complying with the law on natural resources and environment, sanctioned administrative violations in the environmental field with an amount of 1,070 billion VND, and suspended operations for 6 months. By 2022, Nghe Tinh Non-ferrous Metals Joint Stock Company continued to be inspected by the inspection team under Decision No. 1505/QD-UBND of the Provincial People's Committee, sanctioned administrative violations in the land field with an amount of 31,775 million VND.
As for Thiec Hong Bao Ngoc Tin Company Limited, it was granted Mineral Exploitation License No. 379/GP-BTNMT on March 27, 2013; started mining in 2015 and had to stop operations in 2020 due to reduced tin content. However, Thiec Hong Bao Ngoc Tin Company Limited also had shortcomings in complying with the law on natural resources and environment and was administratively sanctioned. Specifically, this company was fined 70 million VND by the inspection team under Decision No. 109/QD-UBND dated March 16, 2017 of the Department of Natural Resources and Environment for violations in the field of environment; the inspection team under Decision No. 1505/QD-UBND dated June 2, 2022 of the Provincial People's Committee for violations in the field of land and minerals with a fine of 152.96 million VND.
Regarding environmental incidents from tin mining and processing activities, there have been two incidents so far, including the collapse of the waste sludge dam of Nghe Tinh Non-ferrous Metals Joint Stock Company on March 9, 2017; along with the unusual fish deaths in the Nam Huong stream flowing through Ban Cai hamlet, Chau Thanh commune on July 1, 2024.
Regarding the incident on July 1, 2024, in Document No. 7151/UBND-NN dated August 21, 2024, the Provincial People's Committee informed the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment that, through inspection and verification, Thiec Ha An Company Limited pumped wastewater from the mine (after settling through settling tanks) into the casto cave (the old tin ore mining pit of Nghe Tinh Non-ferrous Metal Joint Stock Company) and discharged it at the source of Bac stream, Chau Thanh commune; this is one of the sources of surface water pollution in streams and streams: surface water samples taken at the point where the casto cave discharged into the source of Bac stream, Chau Thanh commune on July 8, 2024, through analysis, showed that 5/8 parameters exceeded the standards, including: Ammonium exceeded 1.71 times; Arsenic exceeded 5.4 times; Cadmium exceeded 18.56 times; Manganese exceeded 23.7 times; Iron exceeded 16.34 times.
Comprehensive inspection recommended
To help the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment clarify the difficulties, in Document No. 7151/UBND-NN dated August 21, 2024, the People's Committee of Nghe An province analyzed: The mining areas licensed to exploit original tin ore in the Suoi Bac area, Quy Hop district are all located in mountainous terrain much higher than the surrounding terrain. This area is also located at the head of the water source used for irrigation, livestock farming and daily life of the people. Therefore, when incidents occur from tin ore mining and processing areas, sludge and wastewater containing heavy metals will seriously affect the environment and people's lives. Meanwhile, the process of appraisal and approval of environmental impact assessment reports has not predicted the above problems.
Some issues are very worrying, that is, during the operation, enterprises have made adjustments to the basic design (for mining and processing items) compared to the time when they were licensed by the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment; State management of mineral mining and processing activities in the above area in the past has not met the requirements, and there are overlaps in content and handling authority.
Therefore, the People's Committee of Nghe An province found it "necessary to promptly rectify and handle according to authority to ensure that no environmental pollution incidents occur, affecting the lives and people in related areas of Quy Hop district as has happened in the past". And there is a recommendation: "Request the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment to establish an interdisciplinary team to conduct a comprehensive inspection of compliance with the law in the field of natural resources and environment of enterprises licensed to exploit tin ore in the Bac stream area, Quy Hop district; the results of the inspection, handling and recommendations of the inspection team are the basis for relevant competent agencies to implement State management of mineral resources and environment according to the provisions of law".
According to Mr. Quan Vi Giang - Vice Chairman of the People's Committee of Quy Hop district, the proposal of the Provincial People's Committee is very necessary. Because the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment has enough authority; and has specialized agencies with enough capacity and experience to inspect and comprehensively evaluate the exploitation and environmental protection activities at tin mines in the Suoi Bac area, thereby proposing management measures.
Vice Chairman of the People's Committee of Quy Hop District, Quan Vi Giang, added: "When an incident occurs, the authorities at two levels in Quy Hop District have a very hard time. Not only is it necessary to promptly go to the grassroots to record the incident or organize initial verification, but it is also very difficult to mobilize people to stabilize their thoughts and prevent hot spots from happening. Therefore, we hope that the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment will implement the recommendations of the Provincial People's Committee to rectify mineral exploitation activities and protect the environment according to the provisions of law. In case of continuing to allow enterprises to exploit and process tin ore in the Suoi Bac area, we request that we pay attention to the recommendations of Quy Hop District for many years, which is to replace and transfer the input water source to Quy Hop Water Plant...".
