The Ministry of Natural Resources and the Environment will start surveying the bauxite mining situation in Tan Rai, Lam Dong province, and Nhan Co, Dak Nong province under Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung’s instruction, announced a MoNRE senior official.

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The chief of the Geology and Mineral Agency, Nguyen Van Thuan, said that over one week, the MoNRE would directly scrutinise the situation at bauxite mining sites and evaluate the impacts of mining activities on the environment.

The mission will work with authorities of Lam Dong and Dak Nong provinces and officials of the Vietnam Coal and Mineral Group (TKV) to determine the extent of the bauxite reserves in these provinces. Based on the survey, inspectors will suggest measures to the MoNRE to strengthen the state’s management of bauxite mining projects.

The MoNRE’s spokesman Le Van Hop said that also in May, the ministry would carry out a comprehensive survey of mining activities in 16 provinces and cities in Vietnam.

Hop said that during the inspection process, the MoNRE’s eight missions will focus on two issues: the responsibility of provincial and municipal People’s Committees in granting mineral exploration, mining and processing licences; responsibility in zoning, approving areas where mining activities are banned or temporarily banned.

Missions will also consider mineral mining and processing of individuals and organisations.

According to the MoNRE, the survey in the 16 provinces and cities will be divided into three stages, covering all mining activities, not only bauxite.

The first stage will take place from May 3-16 in the six provinces of Thai Nguyen, Cao Bang, Thanh Hoa, Ha Tinh, Tay Ninh and An Giang.

The second stage will run from May 10-22 in six other provinces, namely Hai Duong, Hai Phong, Dak Lak, Binh Thuan, Binh Dinh and Phu Yen.

The third phase will be implemented from May 15-30 in the four provinces of Quang Binh, Thua Thien-Hue city, Tuyen Quang and Phu Tho.

The provinces and cities in which mineral mining activities were checked in 2008 will make surveys themselves this year and report the results to the MoNRE before May 25.

On April 29, five days after the Politburo’s conclusion on the plan for bauxite exploration, exploitation, processing and use between 2007 and 2015 was released, Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung assigned ministries and localities to implement the conclusion.

Accordingly, the Ministry of Industry and Trade is responsible for preparing a report on the implementation of bauxite mining and processing projects while the Ministry of Planning and Investment is in charge of completing a socio-economic report for the National Assembly session this May with information about the implementation of bauxite and aluminium projects.

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