Mu Sochua calls out Aussie mining firms

Tuesday, 17 April 2012
David Boyle
The Phnom Penh Post

Opposition parliamentarian Mu Sochua has taken aim at Australian mining companies eyeing the Kingdom’s resources, travelling to their home soil to lobby the halls of power.

Opposition party lawmaker Mu Sochua speaks during a press conference in Phnom Penh in January. Photo by Heng Chivoan

Mu Sochua cited fears that Australian companies awarded exploration concessions in Ratanakkiri and Mondulkiri provinces will treat ethnic minorities there with the same disregard they had shown to their own country’s indigenous groups.

“I cannot be in Australia and not speak about mining companies that are part of the devastation of Mondulkiri,” she said in an email yesterday.

Plans to evict Cambodians from Aust mining site shelved

Tuesday, June 29, 2010
By South East Asia correspondent Zoe Daniel
ABC News (Australia)

Cambodia's government has suspended plans to demolish the homes of people living around a proposed Australian mine site.

The threatened forced eviction of local people living around the OzMinerals site has been shelved for now, with the Melbourne-based company finding a substantial gold deposit in Cambodia's Mondulkiri province.

OzMinerals will further exploring the viability of the gold deposit.

The Cambodian government wants small scale local miners and residents to leave the potentially lucrative site and had planned to demolish or burn their houses.

OzMinerals says the people do not yet need to move and has asked that they be treated with dignity and respect.

The government is now aiming to prevent the small scale miners from working by restricting their access to toxic mining chemicals through spot checks on roads into the area.

Locals face eviction at Oz Minerals claim

Tuesday, 15 June 2010
May Titthara
The Phnom Penh Post

THIRTY families in Mondulkiri province’s Keo Seima district have ignored a deadline to tear down homes that government officials have ordered destroyed to make way for a gold-mining concession belonging to Oz Minerals.

In a meeting on Saturday, district authorities told the families that they needed to dismantle their homes and relocate by Sunday. On Monday, however, members of the community remained defiant, demanding either land or an unspecified amount of monetary compensation.

“I don’t care how much pressure the authorities put on me – I will not agree to move unless they provide me with compensation to buy new land,” said resident Sen Chhorn, who vowed to remain on her land even if her house is torn down.

Sok Seav, another Keo Seima resident, said she had lived in the community since 2006, though she noted that she does not have a land title. She, too, said the company should offer some form of compensation.

“We came to this area before Oz Minerals arrived, so they have to pay villagers if they need our land,” Sok Seav said.

An Oz Minerals spokeswoman did not respond to a request for comment on Monday.

But Keo Seima Deputy Governor Len Vanna said the families’ claims were suspect, and that they had only recently moved to his district from a handful of other provinces. He threatened a harsh reprisal if the community is not dismantled in short order.

“If they do not agree to tear down their homes, we will burn them to the ground,” he said.

Am Sam Ann, a district councillor in Keo Seima, said the government had no plans to award the villagers compensation because they had set up their homes “anarchically” on land belonging to Oz Minerals.

Sam Sarin, Mondulkiri provincial coordinator for the local rights group Adhoc, said the villagers had moved to the area in the hope of benefiting from commerce generated by the company’s presence.

Oz Minerals, which began its operations in Cambodia in 2006, is also drilling for copper in Mondulkiri.

In March, the firm announced it had identified inferred resources of 605,000 ounces of gold from 8.1 million tonnes of ore at grades of 2.3 grams of gold per tonne at its interests in Keo Seima.

DJ OZ Minerals Posts 605,000 Ounce Cambodian Gold Resource

MELBOURNE, Mar 17, 2010 (Dow Jones Commodities News) -- OZ Minerals Ltd. on Thursday posted an initial gold resource at its Okvau project in Cambodia of 650,000 ounces.

The miner said drilling carried out to date has identified a Joint Ore Reserves Committee-compliant inferred mineral resource of 8.1 million metric tons of ore at grades of 2.3 grams per ton for 605,000 ounces of gold.

OZ said the results have given it sufficient encouragement to continue with further exploration and the next phase will aim to identify the potential for more than 2 million ounces of gold in the Okvau district.

Based on the results, OZ said it remains confident of discovering more Okvau-style mineralization and adding to the current resource.

-By Alex Wilson, Dow Jones Newswires: 613-9292-2094; alex.wilson@dowjones.com

Bananas head for jungle in Cambodia

July 25, 2007
Jamie Freed
The Sydney Morning Herald (Australia)

JETSETTING Jupiter Mines directors David Evans and Jeremy Snaith certainly get around.

The pair - dubbed "bananas in pyjamas" after inappropriate antics in first class on a flight to Abu Dhabi earlier this year - have turned their attention to the Cambodian jungle.

Through a private company called Indochine Resources - in which Jupiter is a shareholder - Mr Evans and Mr Snaith have gained rights to roam among elephants, tigers and leopards as they pick up rock chip samples in the ASEAN heritage-listed Virachey National Park.

One of their fellow Indochine directors is Robert Coghill, a fellow first-class passenger on the infamous Etihad Airways flight. He provided an affadavit in support of Mr Evans and Mr Snaith.

Last month their lawyer, Ross Hill, said he was "unaware of any connection" between Mr Coghill and his clients. But last night Mr Hill could not reach Mr Evans to confirm.

The fourth and final Indochine director is Chris Eddy, an Australian based in Dubai.

Mr Evans and Mr Snaith were on their way to Dubai when they were arrested at the Abu Dhabi airport. Mr Hill said the visit was in part to attract investors to Indochine. It is believed Mr Evans and Mr Snaith have both travelled to South-East Asia since receiving suspended sentences from an Abu Dhabi judge.

The Cambodia Daily recently reported Indochine - previously named Battle Mountain Minerals - had signed a memorandum of understanding to search for minerals in Ratanakkiri province.

A geologist at Perth's Great Australian Resources, which has exploration projects in Cambodia, said a MOU would allow a company to survey an area and take rock chip samples but the concession would have to be converted to an exploration lease before drilling could take place.

The World Bank has been pushing for the Virarchey National Park to be protected from mining, having provided $US1.91 million ($2.16 million) in loans and $US2.75 million in grants to an environment ministry program since 2000.

World Bank spokeswoman Pichaya Fitts said the Cambodian government was expected to pass a law imposing a strict ban on mining in core areas of the park later this year.

Because very little minerals exploration has been conducted in Cambodia it has been deemed a highly prospective region.

Oxiana hit 33 metres at 9.9 grams per tonne of gold at an exploration project there and its annual report said "field assessment of other areas and projects of interest is ongoing".

Acting Jupiter chief executive Rob Benussi said his company previously had a direct investment in some of the Indochine leases but had converted the holding to shares in the unlisted company. In its March quarterly report, Jupiter said it had invested $120,000 in seed capital.

Meanwhile, Mr Snaith has sold another $28,000 of Jupiter shares. Jupiter is holding a meeting to vote on ousting Mr Evans and Mr Snaith as directors next month.

Aussie's Southern Gold expands its operation in Cambodia

February 20, 2007
Southern Gold steps up role

CAMERON ENGLAND
The Advertiser (Adelaide, Australia)

SOUTHERN Gold has expanded its footprint in Cambodia via a joint venture with local company Greystoke.

The Adelaide gold and base metals explorer said yesterday it had signed a letter of agreement to form a joint venture over two of Greystoke's exploration areas.

This brings to five the number of tenements Southern Gold is exploring across Cambodia, with a total area of 1155 sq km.

"Exceptionally encouraging exploration results are being recorded from all these tenements as a better understanding of the mineralisation models are achieved," the company said in a statement yesterday.

"Southern Gold also notes Oxiana's reporting of several high-grade gold drilling results from Oxiana's Shin-Ha joint-venture project, which is adjacent to Southern Gold's O'Kthong project in eastern Cambodia."

Oxiana's results included 33m of 9.9 grams per tonne of gold and 4m of 10.4g/t

Southern Gold's new tenements cover 375 sq km and the company will earn an 80 per cent interest in each by funding exploration up to the bankable feasibility stage, managing director Stephen Biggins said.

The company said geochemical sampling and geological mapping would occur across the tenements during the first quarter of 2007, with drilling scheduled for several targets mid-year.

It has told the Cambodian Ministry of Industry Mining and Energy that it intends to apply for exploration licences for all of its tenements in Cambodia. Southern Gold shares added 1.5c to 54.5c yesterday.