Difficult to improve and restore the environment after mineral exploitation

Hoang Anh Dien Bien Company Limited did not implement environmental protection solutions during the process of mining stone for common construction materials at the Sin Su quarry (Xa Nhe commune, Tua Chua district).

There are two main reasons leading to many shortcomings in environmental improvement and restoration after mineral exploitation, including: Mining units and enterprises are not interested, lack responsibility and the environmental restoration fund in mineral exploitation is too small, not enough to implement environmental restoration projects.

Regarding the responsibility of enterprises, currently, in the province, there is a situation where when a mine is closed, the enterprise declares bankruptcy and is not capable of carrying out environmental restoration. Regarding funding, according to the provisions of the Law on Environmental Protection, mineral exploitation projects must deposit funds for environmental restoration. The deposit amount must be calculated to ensure sufficient funding for environmental restoration based on the environmental restoration contents approved by competent authorities. The total deposit amount is equal to the total funding of environmental restoration and rehabilitation project items. However, currently, the deposit level for environmental restoration and rehabilitation is low (only 1 - 3% of the total investment), so organizing environmental restoration and rehabilitation is facing many difficulties.

After a long period of gold mining in Hang Tro village, Phi Nhu commune (Dien Bien Dong district), around 2017, Dien Bien Molybdenum Industrial Joint Stock Company left, leaving behind a large area of hills and mountains in ruins. Many holes were dug horizontally and vertically, deep and wide everywhere, posing many potential safety risks to the people. In addition, the vegetation system was almost destroyed, the land was plowed, eroded, and collapsed. Water sources were also polluted.

Faced with that situation, in February 2020, the People's Committee of Dien Bien province issued a Decision approving the project to close the mineral mine at the Hang Tro gold mine. According to regulations, Dien Bien Molybdenum Industry Joint Stock Company must be responsible for completing the work in the project, and must report to the Department of Natural Resources and Environment on the environmental remediation and restoration work in the mine area to coordinate in organizing acceptance and evaluation of implementation results as a basis for issuing a decision to close the mine according to regulations. However, at that time, the Company had dissolved and gone bankrupt and had no capacity to carry out environmental remediation and restoration. Meanwhile, the environmental remediation and restoration deposit paid by the Company of 465 million VND was not enough to carry out environmental remediation on an area of more than 39 hectares at the Phi Nhu gold mine. Therefore, in the decision to approve the Mine Closure Project, the Provincial People's Committee assigned the People's Committee of Dien Bien Dong District to be the investor to implement the Mine Closure Project at the Hang Tro gold mine. The total investment is nearly 2.5 billion VND, including 465.1 million VND in environmental restoration deposits and over 1.9 billion VND from the province's annual local budget. Dien Bien Dong District has carried out a number of main items: Leveling the ground at the bottom of the mine; creating a drainage system to prevent congestion; blocking the mine door with rubble and cement walls; prying and removing rocks hanging on the slope walls; building a retaining wall at the bottom of the mine; dredging and clearing the flow adjacent to Hang Tro cave; leveling and cutting layers on steep slopes; leveling the front wall area and the roads leading to the mine and inside the mine. After renovating the site, Dien Bien Dong district planted 38 hectares of pine trees to improve and restore the environment. Up to now, according to the assessment of the People's Committee of Phi Nhu commune, the area of pine trees has developed quite well. The environment in the mine area is gradually recovering.

The situation of abandoning or delaying environmental remediation and restoration after mining is also happening at mining sites that exploit minerals for common construction materials. For example, the sand mining site in Pom Lot village, Pom Lot commune and Team 18, Noong Luong commune (Dien Bien district), invested by Ngoc Dung Construction and Trading Company Limited, has closed the mine since 2021. However, up to now, the investor has not carried out environmental remediation and restoration. In this area, the status quo after mining remains, creating puddles and deep valleys that pose a risk of landslides and encroachment on people's cropland; affecting the flow of the Nam Rom river. Similarly, the Muong Ang 4 stone mine (Ang Nua commune, Muong Ang district), owned by Ha Giang Highlands Joint Stock Company, had its mining license revoked after many times of unsafe mining. However, up to now, the Company has not submitted a project to close the mine; environmental rehabilitation and restoration have not been carried out. To ensure safety, the People's Committee of Muong Ang district has directed forces to pry and remove rocks hanging on the slope wall, and to plant more trees at the foot of the mining area.

To thoroughly resolve the situation of units and enterprises avoiding or deliberately delaying the implementation of environmental remediation and restoration after mineral exploitation, it is necessary for the competent authorities to improve the effectiveness of State management in mineral exploitation activities. In particular, the Department of Natural Resources and Environment needs to organize the review and inspection of mine areas that have been closed to take measures according to regulations; resolutely handle the responsibility of local authorities when mineral exploitation activities occur in areas where mines have been closed. At the same time, direct mineral operating units to fulfill their obligations to pay environmental remediation and restoration deposits correctly, sufficiently and promptly. Improve the quality of consulting and appraising environmental remediation and restoration plans in mineral exploitation by increasing the deposit level to ensure implementation responsibility. Strictly handle according to the provisions of law those units and organizations that do not comply, do not complete, or do it carelessly in the process of environmental improvement and restoration.

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