A large number of titanium mining firms in the southern central province of Binh Thuan are destroying the local environment, water supply and agricultural crops.

Containing large titanium reserves worth billions of dollars, Hoa Thang and Hong Phong, two communes in Bac Binh District, Binh Thuan province, have become the hot spots of the titanium mining industry.

But the land and water here are heavily tainted by the salinity that comes from the mining operations.

Vu Thi Yen, a resident in Hong Chinh Hamlet of Hoa Thang, said her well was infected with salinity and her orchid was all destroyed by the sea water used in the mining operations that is discharged directly into the ground.

At present, there are five titanium mining firms in Hong Chinh, all of which were able to obtain and renew their mining licenses even after they had been fined by the provincial
Department of Resources and Environment for serious violations of administrative and environmental regulations.

An official of the department said fining did not deter these companies from continuing their violations. And somehow they have never had their licenses revoked.

In Hiep Tri hamlet of Tan Hai commune, Binh Thuan’s La Gi town, the Hai Tinh International Mineral Corporation is creating an environmental nightmare for the local people.

Since Hai Tinh began its mining in Hiep Tri in 2007, the hamlet has always been filled with dust and the local roads have been badly damaged by the firm’s trucks.

Hai Tinh also uses sea water for their extraction of titanium ores, causing damage to dozens of hectares of rice crops.

Dang Quoc Tri, deputy head of the commune’s people’s committee, said most of the farmers in the area had to switch to other jobs as they could no longer do farming on their damaged rice fields.

In a conference held in April by the provincial people’s committee on the sustainable mining and use of titanium in Binh Thuan, many scientists warned that the province need to pay attention to the environmental problems caused by the titanium mining industry.

Many others even suggested that the provincial government discontinue the mining operations.

Dang Van Hai, former head of the provincial people’s committee, said the exploiting of titanium and selling it as crude material is greatly wasteful.

“It’s extremely unreasonable that we pay a high cost to the environment and only get a small sum in return,” he said.

Source: Tuoi Tre