Illegal gold exploration investigated
The government kicks off the enquiry into news that villages, forests and hills in Sagaing Region had been damaged because of gold exploration, said Kyaw Kyaw Win, deputy minister for the President's Office.
He said the government had not granted gold exploration permission in the area.
He reacted to the information from Sandar Min, an MP from National League for Democracy. She told Parliament on May 28 that illegal gold exploration has destroyed forests and villages along the Chindwin River.
Gold exploration started by hand in Kani Township in 2011 and soon after mining companies began exploring with machines. Some of them have licenses from the Ministry of Mines and some were exploring illegally. Now almost all the hills in the township had been explored and deserted, as the explorers left without clearing large piles of earth and filling in pits, Sandar Min said.
The companies were named as Tabawashwe, Nay Htet Oo, Zabu Lwin, San Thingyi, Shwe Sin San Myint and Aung Moe Hein and about 20 others.
“The earth sieved from the gold mines is dumped directly into the Chindwin making the water muddy and shallow with sandbanks,” she said.
