The
owner of an iron ore mine in the highlands of northern Cao Bang Province is
struggling to remove debris left after a tailings dam was destroyed in a
landslide more than a month ago.

Workers clear debris left after a tailings dam was destroyed in a landslide one month ago in Duyet Trung Commune in northern Cao Bang Province. (Photo: VNS)

The 8-kilometre-road
through the Na Chua stream to the Cao Bang Minerals and Metallurgy Company’s Na
Lung mine was still inundated with sludge yesterday, Dec 15.

Duyet Trung Commune
resident Be Thi Hong Van said the road - the only link with other communes - was
covered in the mud spilled from trucks carrying the debris.

“We have been living
with mud and dust,” she complained.

“On dry days, the road
is filled with dust that could make it unsafe.

“Now we are worried
about possible accidents on the slippery road; some people have already fallen
off their motorbikes.”

And some households
had been unable to start planting their winter-spring crop because their paddy
fields were under mud.

Company deputy
director Dam Trung Ky said 250 workers, three excavators and eight trucks were
working from morning till 10pm everyday to remove the mud.

About 6,000 to 7,000
cubic metres of mud and water, or about 40 per cent of the tailings had been
returned to the mine.

But his company would
be pressed to finish the work before the Provincial People’s Committee’s
deadline - the end of the month.

The sludge in the
stream and paddy fields was about equal in some places making its removal more
difficult.

Water flowing
downstream stopped the mud from drying.

The company has bought
Ma Thi Bach’s house - the most heavily damaged in Na Keo Hamlet - to temporarily
store the mud before it goes to the mine.

Four other households
forced to evacuate were paid VND1 million (US$50) each.

Deputy director Ky
said the refusal of some residents to rent land for the building of a road has
made it impossible to transport excavators to the stream.

“We have used all of
our trucks and excavators for the work,” he said.

But excavators could
not be hired because their owners thought the mud would harm their machines.

Cao Bang Minerals and
Metallurgy Company has been fined VND100 million (US$5,000) and ordered to
repair the damage.

VietNamNet/Viet
Nam News