The Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment proposes to exploit sand and gravel in river and sea beds, which must be approved by many agencies, in accordance with planning and ensuring national defense and security.
The Ministry of Justice has just announced the appraisal dossier of the Law on Geology and Minerals project. This Law aims to overcome the shortcomings of the current Mineral Law, ensuring strict management, economical, effective and transparent use of minerals and aiming for sustainable development.
According to Article 90 of the draft, exploration and exploitation of sand and gravel in riverbeds, lakes and the sea must be consistent with many plans such as: Inter-provincial river basins, inter-provincial water sources; irrigation; hydroelectric; flood prevention; group of seaports and water areas; National marine spatial planning…
Mining activities must be monitored with modern technological equipment to control reserve fluctuations, safety risks and environmental impacts. When exploiting sand and gravel, precautions must be taken to prevent the risk of landslides on banks, riverbanks and structures.
For sea sand exploration and exploitation activities, when granting licenses, state management agencies must have written approval from relevant agencies on defense, security, fisheries, environmental protection issues, maritime traffic.
The license to exploit sand and gravel on river and sea beds has a maximum term of no more than 5 years and can be considered for extension and reissue until the reserves specified in the license are exhausted.
Organizations and individuals exploiting sand and gravel in riverbeds, lakes, and marine areas are obliged to register yards, gathering locations, and types of vehicles and equipment used for exploitation and transportation; Install equipment to monitor the journey and store data and information about the location and travel itinerary of vehicles and equipment used to exploit and transport sand and gravel.
People mining sand in the Mekong Delta, 2015. Photo: Ngoc Tai
The current Mineral Law stipulates that sand is a mineral used as a common construction material. Organizations and individuals exploiting sand as construction materials are exempt from licensing if they exploit within the land area of a licensed project and the exploited products are only used for the construction of that project. Mining organizations and individuals must register area, capacity, volume, methods, equipment and plans with the Provincial People's Committee; must pay a fee for granting mineral exploitation rights.
According to the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment, from 2011 to the end of 2023, the country has more than 3.000 mineral exploration licenses issued, including nearly 1,8 billion tons of cement limestone; coal is more than 1,2 billion tons, bauxite ore is nearly 900 million tons, common construction material stone is nearly one billion m3, clay for making bricks and tiles is over 650 million m3, sand and gravel is over 400 million m3 and paving stone is about 140 million m3. million mXNUMX.
However, after 13 years of implementing the Mineral Law (effective since 2011), many regulations have revealed inadequacies. Mining sand, river gravel, soil and rock to serve important national projects or public investment projects faces many difficulties; many problems in controlling output; Decentralization and decentralization of management of geological and mineral activities still overlap.
Therefore, the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment believes that the draft Law on Geology and Minerals will be developed to strengthen the management of sand and gravel mining activities in river beds, lake beds, and marine areas according to the characteristics of the type. This.
The draft also adds a mineral grouping policy to have a suitable approach from planning to licensing exploration and exploitation; international integration and cooperation; Priority is given to organizations and individuals that are exploiting legally to explore further and expand. The draft also clarifies the state's responsibilities in basic geological investigations; rights and obligations of organizations conducting basic geological investigation activities; Principles for selecting organizations and individuals to invest in geological surveys of minerals.
