6 Million Tons of Minerals Could Be Mined in Sanctuary
By Douglas Gillison and Thet Sambath
THE CAMBODIA DAILY
After three months of exploratory digging and reviewing satellite imagery, Southern Mining believes there may be 2.8 million tons of chromium available inside the Pursat sanctuaryExecutives at a mining company exploring for minerals in Phnom Samkos Wildlife Sanctuary in Pursat province said Tuesday that total deposits in their 10,000-hectare concession could approach six million tons.
However, unearthing the antimony and chromium should not prove overly destructive to the area's forest and wildlife, officials with Southern Mining Co Ltd maintained in an interview at the firm's offices in Phnom Penh's Tuol Kok district.
Environment Ministry Secretary of State Tan Vutha also said Tuesday that his ministry has lifted a 12-year prohibition on mining in protected areas. The decision was made for Cambodia's greater good, he said.
After reviewing the results of satellite imagery and after three months of exploratory digging in Pursat province's Veal Veng district, Southern Mining believes there may be 2.8 million tons of chromium available inside the sanctuary, company vice chairman Khun Kakda said. Chromium is used to produce stainless steel.
At depths of between 50 and 100 meters, there may be at least as much antimony, which can be used to make batteries, he added.
Neither Khun Kakda, nor company chairman Sau Chhunsong, would discuss the potential value of the deposits, saying only that they hoped mining would begin soon with government permission.
"Now we are exploring the area. After that we can ask for permission [to mine]," said Khun Kakda, adding that the concession was entirely legal. "We also have officials from the government to control with us where to dig, where to drill. We are with the government," he said.
The executives also said Southern Mining is Cambodian-owned and not part South Korean-owned, as Commerce Ministry records indicate, or Chinese, as reported previously.
Khun Kakda said the company would take care to avoid environmental damage.
A March exploration agreement with the Ministry of Mines, Industry and Energy stipulates that the company must make "reasonable efforts to minimize the negative impact of its operations on the natural environment conditions in the area."
When exploration is finished, the company will submit an environmental impact assessment to the government as required by law, Khun Kakda said.
"But we have not reached that stage," he said. "For an exploitation license we must have an EIA."
The Environment Ministry in August annulled a 1994 prakas prohibiting the exploitation of minerals in protected areas and issued instead a new prakas that makes no mention of mining, according to a copy of the August prakas obtained Tuesday.
Environment Minister Mok Mareth could not be reached for comment. However, Secretary of State Tan Vutha said the ministry now allows mining in protected areas in order to put all natural resources to the best possible use.
"Any place that is useful to the nation and the people, [the Ministries of Environment and Industry] will allow mining, but the mining cannot be done anywhere unless both ministries reach agreement," he said. "I know Samkos is an important place for natural resources and wildlife and the [Environment] ministry will also discuss it in cooperation with the Ministry of Industry."
SRP lawmaker Yim Sovann said such mining concessions were often of little value to the Cambodian public. "I think Cambodia gains nothing...except that the health of the people is getting worse and the environment is destroyed," he said.
One environmental official familiar with the concession said on condition of anonymity that the extraction of such massive amounts of minerals could cause "huge destruction" to the wildlife sanctuary.
"I don't know why the government is allowing them to mine for millions of tons like this without considering the effect on the environment," he said.
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