Exploiting mineral potential and advantages for development

Dredging activities, utilizing minerals as fill materials at Trung Chi Lake, Dong Ha City - Photo: LE MINH

Market demand is increasing strongly.

According to the report of the Department of Agriculture and Environment, Quang Tri owns diverse mineral resources with key materials serving the common construction industry such as limestone, cement clay, basalt, sand and gravel, and soil for filling materials, creating a solid foundation for the domestic industry. The advantage of minerals used as common construction materials and filling materials is that they are evenly distributed throughout the province, making it easy to mobilize and exploit. In recent times, the exploitation of common construction materials has contributed significantly to local economic growth, job creation, and increased provincial budget revenue.

Currently, Quang Tri is one of the localities implementing many key projects such as Quang Tri Airport, My Thuy Seaport Area, Coastal Road connecting the East - West Economic Corridor, road connecting the West and East branches of Ho Chi Minh Road; Eastern bypass road of Dong Ha City, Quang Tri Industrial Park... the demand for minerals as common filling and construction materials such as sand and gravel is very large.

Regarding land for filling materials, the annual demand is about 1.9 million ^m3 /year; for sand and gravel for common construction materials, it is about 0.734 million m3/year. With that demand, the basic supply can meet about 2.05 million ^m3 ^/ year for land mines for filling materials; for sand and gravel for construction materials, it can meet 0.78 million ^m3 /year. The supply is mainly from licensed mines and the source recovered from dredging products of rivers and hydroelectric reservoirs.

However, in the coming time, when implementing key national projects such as the North-South high-speed railway project and other major projects in the area that are being prepared for implementation such as the Cam Lo - Lao Bao expressway, National Highway 15D... the demand for land for filling, sand, and gravel is very large, posing urgent requirements in the state management of minerals such as planning, mine auctions... to exploit the potentials and strengths to serve key projects.

Promote mine planning

According to Decision No. 3330/QD-UBND dated December 27, 2016 and Decision No. 2817/QD-UBND dated September 30, 2021 of the Provincial People's Committee, which have been integrated into the Quang Tri Provincial Planning for the period 2021 - 2030, with a vision to 2050, the province has 50 mines (71 areas) of sand and gravel for common construction materials, with a total area of 579.26 hectares, forecast resources of 17.93 million ^m3 ; land for filling materials has 72 mines with a total area of 1,044.54 hectares, forecast resources of 59.153 million ^m3 .

To fully exploit the potential and advantages, the Provincial People's Committee has issued 14 licenses for sand and gravel mining for common construction materials, with an area of 129.48 hectares, reserves of 2,997,448 m ³ , capacity of 310,000 m ³ / year; for land for filling materials, 10 licenses were issued, area of 198.27 hectares, reserves of 13,292,046 m ³ , capacity of 1,483,333 m ³ / year.

Of the total 24 licenses granted, 21 are in operation, including 12 sand and gravel mines for common construction materials, with a total area of 108.97 hectares, total licensed reserves of 2,299,373 m ³ , exploitation capacity of 250,000 m ³ /year; land for filling materials is 9 mines, total area of 194.75 hectares, total licensed reserves: 13,022,046 m ³ , exploitation capacity of 1,393,333 m ³ /year.

In addition, the Provincial People's Committee has granted licenses for mineral recovery activities from dredging projects, exploiting minerals in construction investment areas such as 14 licenses for dredging lake beds, at 27 irrigation lakes in the districts of Hai Lang, Trieu Phong, Cam Lo, Gio Linh and Vinh Linh with a volume equivalent to 14.44 million ^m3 of soil; 11 licenses for dredging rivers, streams and lakes with a volume of 2,060,336 m3 ^{of sand} for filling and 723,045 ^m3 of sand for common construction materials; 4 licenses for dredging hydropower plants with a total volume of 1,416,481 ^m3 of sand for common construction materials; 4 licenses for exploiting filled soil in construction areas, with a volume of 351,286 ^m3 of filled soil, 29,677 ^m3 of sand for common construction materials.

Along with that, there are 3 quarries licensed to exploit soil for filling materials, including Hai Le quarry (Quang Tri town) with soil reserves for filling materials of 1,548,069 m ³ ; Khe Da basalt quarry (Vinh Hoa, Vinh Linh) with soil reserves for filling materials of 477,700 m ³ ; Nam Khoi A quarry (Cam Thanh, Cam Lo) with soil reserves of 405,000 m ³ ; total licensed reserves are 2,430,769 m ³ , exploitation capacity is 210,857 m ³ /year.

Timely removal of obstacles

According to the leader of the Department of Agriculture and Environment, the current problem in exploiting the full potential and strengths of the locality in terms of minerals for common construction materials and the main source of fill soil is that some mineral mines have been approved for mineral exploration and exploitation planning but are not included in the local land use planning and plan, causing difficulties in the auction and granting of mineral exploitation licenses to businesses.

On the business side, there is a lack of initiative and positivity in preparing and completing all types of dossiers requesting licenses for mineral exploration and exploitation. Some units have stopped at the stage of submitting the appraisal of the winning bid due to financial difficulties of the investors. Investors have not actively coordinated with the authorities in the process of preparing bidding documents to identify mines of filling materials and construction materials for the projects.

In particular, the implementation of regulations on installing weighing stations at the location where minerals are taken out of the mining area and installing surveillance cameras at warehouses to store relevant information and data has not been implemented by most enterprises. This leads to the risk of enterprises exploiting minerals beyond their reserves, or even illegally exploiting and selling them, causing loss of resources.

To resolve these shortcomings, in the coming time, the Department of Agriculture and Environment will coordinate with units and localities to review and add mineral mines to district-level land use planning and plans, urban planning, and regional planning to ensure the implementation of mineral exploitation rights auctions according to regulations.

Coordinate with sectors and localities to organize the appraisal of dossiers and submit for granting mineral exploitation licenses according to regulations. At the same time, advise the Provincial People's Committee to issue a plan for auctioning mineral exploitation rights in 2025 and organize implementation. At the same time, actively guide and support businesses and investors in carrying out dossiers and procedures in the mineral sector.

Le Minh

Source: https://baoquangtri.vn/khai-thac-tiem-nang-loi-the-khoang-san-de-phat-trien-193500.htm