Chinese mine where workers were killed is under tight security

Prayers for the mine workers killed (Photo: Heng Reaksmey, VOA Khmer)

02 Jan 2012
By Heng Reaksmey, VOA Khmer
Translated from Khmer by Soch

The Chinese mine which received the authorization to operate by the ministry of Mining and Energy at the end of 2011 to explore for gold is located in Sambo district, i.e. 40 km from Kratie city. The 13-km access trail to reach the mine from the national road is difficult to access.

About 7 km on the trail, one reaches the O’Po village, located in Kbal Domrey commune, Samdo district. There, a checkpoint is set up by the Chinese company with strict guard manned by the Kratie province cops. At this checkpoint, reporters are not allowed to get in following the incident which led to the death of Cambodian workers inside a mineshaft, however, [today] a group of reporters are allowed to enter because the military police stationed at the checkpoint know them.

On Thursday, inside the Xing Yuan Kanng Yeak mine, a praying ceremony was taking place to commemorate the spirits of the workers who were killed.

Today, there are not many workers there, only 4 or 5 of them can be seen. The workers gave an interview to VOA, telling us that more than 90% of the workers left to return home after their co-workers died.

Last week, 8 Cambodian workers were killed and 2 other were injured in a mineshaft located about 300-m below ground. The incident took place because the Chinese workers blasted rock and in doing so, they hit groundwater which gushed in along with rock chips. The incident led to the killing of the workers when they were drowned.

28-year-old Pum Oeun, a miner from Kampong Cham who has worked there for more than one month, said that workers here have not received safety and evacuation training during danger.

Pum Oeun said that all the Chinese company did was to issue a hard hat, a headlight, and mining tools to each worker. When it comes to technical issues, the Chinese company did not provide any training to them.

“We don’t know anything because workers were sent to work underground, sometime, electricity is cut off and everything is turning dark in there,” Prum Oeun said.

The Chinese mine includes 2 shafts, one along the east and another one along the west. The incident took place in one of the shaft.

19-year-old Mao Sila from Prek Prosop district, Kratie province, said that normally, when the company blast rock with explosive, they usually ring a bell to warn about danger, but on the day of the incident, the company did not warn the workers at all. Mao Sila said that if the Chinese company teaches escape strategy to the workers, such killing would not take place.

“I want to say that I am asking them to check each worker so that before they enter the mine, they can work safely. We must protect Cambodian lives.”

The Cambodian workers there do not receive monthly salary, instead they are paid by the amount or ore they dig out. They receive 9,000 riels (about $2) for one container of ore they retrieve from the shaft.

27-year-old Kay Borey said : “The pay us by the container load. In my shaft, they pay 9,000 riels ($2) per container of ore from the bottom level, and 10,000 ($2.5) to 15,000 riels ($4) per container for the upper level. We do retrieve ore, but we don’t know if there is gold in the ore, it’s only after it is ground that one can see.”

The Chinese company declined to comment for VOA even if we asked the questions thru a translator.

After the incident that saw 8 Cambodian workers killed, Suy Sem, the CPP minister of mining and energy, said that his ministry will hold an urgent meeting with the Chinese company, but up to Sunday, results of the meeting have not been announced yet.