Govt 'ignoring' waste dumping by Thai firm
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Villagers have complained against mining firm for more than a decade, says official
The government has been informed by its own staff that a Thai-run tin mine in Tanintharyi Region has been dumping waste into a creek for more than a decade but has ignored reports of this crime, an official with the Ministry of Mines told Eleven Media.
His comments follow widespread complaints by residents of the more than 10 villages downstream from the mine in Dawei district that their drinking water has been poisoned by waste from the mine.
On May 25, village residents near the Heinda Tin Mine filed a lawsuit against the Thai company and its partner enterprise at the Ministry of Mines, No (2) Mining Enterprise, at the Dawei District Court.
Thai-based Myanmar Pongpipat Company (MPC) has been operating the mine in conjunction with the Ministry of Mines since 1999. It has a 65:35 per cent production-sharing agreement with No (2) Mining Enterprise.
Htay Aung, project manager for the mine at No (2) Mining Enterprise, said he and his colleagues had no control over how the company disposes of its waste. “We have no right to intervene in the company’s operations or its waste disposal,” he told Eleven Media, adding that he and his colleagues had asked the company to properly manage its waste disposal but it had ignored their requests.
The company’s practices violate regulations set by the Ministry of Mines but its managers do not care, he said.
They have ignored requests from local officials not to dump waste into the creek, he added.
“I’ve never seen this company punished. We have reported about [its infractions] to higher levels but have never received a reply,” said the official who said he has been with the ministry for 20 years.
“We can only follow instructions from Nay Pyi Taw,” Htay Aung added.
The mine enterprisebegan in 1999 with an agreement between the MPC and the No (2) Mining Enterprise, which is the ministry’s unit for operating joint ventures for the mining of gold, tin, tungsten, rare earth, titanium and platinum. The ministry has six enterprises; each one oversees mining of one group of minerals, ores or gemstones. They enter production-sharing agreements with private companies seeking to operate mines.
The mine in Myittar Township produces 400 to 500 metric tonnes of tin a year.
“The project area covers 2,110 acres, with the mining taking place on 20 acres,” Htay Aung said. “The company has applied for a further 4,000 acres, but its application has not been granted yet, he said.
No (2) Mining Enterprise, however, conducted a tender earlier this year to expand its tin warehouse in Yangon.
Htay Aung said No (2) Mining Enterprise paid to rent the land and that all other costs were borne by the company. The government pays Ks 3 million (about US$3,000) per acre annually to rent the land for the open-pit mine.
MPC has been granted another five-year licence for mining at the site that begins next month.
It employs 20 senior Thai staff and more than 300 Myanmar labourers.
Local residents have been complaining for almost a decade that the company was dumping waste from the mine into a creek, filling it with sediment that poisoned their drinking water and caused flooding which destroyed farmland and houses.
According to the company’s mining licence it is responsible for any damage to the environment caused by the mine.
MPC declined to discuss the case with Eleven Media, saying its manager was unavailable.
MPC and ministry officials signed a production-sharing contract for the mine on July 1, 1999. Then-minister for Mines, Brig-General Ohn Myint, made a speech at the ceremony, which was attended by then-managing Director of No 2 Mining Enterprise U Tin Win and MPC chairman Sompong Chavaltanpipat.
Mining operations are regulated by the Myanmar Mines Law of 1994 and its implementing guidelines, the Myanmar Mines Rules of 1996. The regulations lay out the application process for mining licences; rights and duties of a licence holder; rent and royalties; and employment conditions for miners.
The Heinda mine is located in the Tenasserim mountain range on the Thai-Myanmar border, which has drawn mining companies since the colonial era.
