Gold digging boom near Tet

Quang Nam In the last days of the year of the Cat, hundreds of people set up camps and brought machines to illegally dig for gold at mine 5A, Phuoc Thanh commune, Phuoc Son district.

The 5A gold mine is located about 400 meters from district road DH5. On an area of about 2 hectares of forest land along the mountainside, dozens of camps have been set up to serve the gold mining. Every day, about 100 people come to mine for gold for hire. Some use hoes and shovels to dig soil and put it on carts, some soak and dry the ore, some operate machinery... The sound of machines and people talking is like a construction site.

Temporary camps set up at 5A gold mine, January 23. Photo: Dac Thanh — Camp set up at 5A gold mine, January 23. Photo: *Dac Thanh*

Quang Nam province once granted a mining license to Thanh Loc Son Company Limited, located in Kham Duc town, Phuoc Son district. In January 2017, the mine's license expired and was handed over to Phuoc Thanh commune for management. For many years, this mine has been a hotspot for illegal gold mining. At the end of July 2023, Phuoc Son district organized a raid to expel gold miners.

After a lull, the price of gold increased near Tet, and many people flocked to the mines to seek their luck. They used tarps, trees, and ropes to build camps, pulled up electricity, and brought water from the mountain tops; bought generators and crushers to grind rocks and soil, and then used water to catch gold dust. To recover all the gold from the ore, they used lime, soda, and cyanide to soak and ferment. After all the gold was extracted, these chemicals were dumped into the environment, causing pollution.

Gold digging boom near Tet — Illegal gold mining at mine 5A. Video : *Dac Thanh*

One worker said he was hired by his employer for 200,000-300,000 VND per day, his job was to transport soil and rocks to crushers, leaving in the morning and returning in the evening. "If we saw the authorities coming, we would hide the machines and run into the forest or hide in a tunnel. When they left, we would go back to work," he said.

Because the mine has expired, there is not much gold ore left. The leader of a gold mining group said that "on a lucky day, they earn a few million dong, on a bad day, a few hundred dong". They know that the work is illegal, but they still do it because "the income is higher than farming or working as a factory worker".

Faced with the above situation, Mr. Le Quang Trung, Chairman of Phuoc Son District, said that he had assigned the district police to coordinate with relevant agencies to sweep away illegal miners at mine 5A. However, because this area is far from residential areas, local people and people from other places come to work secretly. "When they see the authorities, they flee into the forest, making it difficult to handle the situation," he said.

Gold miners carry ore into the refinery to extract gold. Photo: Dac Thanh — Workers carry ore into the tank to filter for gold. Photo: *Dac Thanh*

Regarding the fact that the 5A gold mine has expired but has not closed, the leader of Phuoc Son district said that Thanh Loc Son Company Limited is no longer operating in the mineral sector. The company's headquarters has moved elsewhere, and the address is unknown, so urging the company to prepare documents and procedures to close the mine is difficult.

The district People's Committee has assigned the police to preside over and coordinate with other agencies to verify whether the enterprise is still operating or not. If it is still operating but does not complete the procedures to close the mine, it will be handled, Mr. Trung said.

Dac Thanh

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