Residents have rejected a mining company’s request for government permission to test and mine for tin and tungsten on 50,000 acres of land owned by locals in the Mo-Ser-Khe area of Hpa Saung Township, Kayah State.
Naw Luu D from Thaw-Thi-Kho social assistance group said: “The project will be implemented on 50,000 acres of lands, so people do not like it because their working farmlands and cardamom farms are also located inside that project area,”
Local residents were sent letters informing them that the mining project was being undertaken by the Mo-Ser-Khe mining company, the government’s mining department and the government’s department for geological studies and mineral prospecting.
The letter said the company will start the project at three sites where there are houses, farmlands and religious buildings. This is why they have rejected the project according to a statement by the Thaw-Thi-Kho Social Assistance Group’s issued on 16 April.
Ko Kyaw Htin Aung from the Natural Resource Governance Institute (EITI) also said that they would also monitor projects implemented in Kayah State.
He said: “We have been watching, if their activities cause serious impacts we will issue critical statements.”
Currently, there are miming projects covering 7,801 acres of land in Hpa Saung Township. If the new mining project is implemented on 50,000 acres of land a quarter of the land in Hpa Saung Township will be under mining projects, according to Naw Luu D.
Translated by Aung Myat Soe English version written by Mark Inkey for BNI
