Environment
Sitting on huge reserves of titanium, living together with pollution
  • | VietNamNet | November 17, 2011 08:41 PM

Overexploitation, unreasonable investment and mismanagement on titanium mining areas all have caused big consequences to the environment in Binh Thuan province.

 
Local residents are incurring big consequences to the environment
Thousands of the households living near the exploitation areas are living in a severely polluted environment and facing the risk of being destroyed by sandstorms. Meanwhile, tourism sites cannot attract travelers because of the polluted environment.

Living with fears

Tran Van Chau , a local resident of Tan Thanh commune in Ham Thuan Nam district of Binh Thuan province, said that he would never forget the fear he felt when the “sandstorm” rushed down in September.

“At 6 pm of September 9, when it was raining, a big volume of sand unexpectedly flow rushed down into our garden and flooded in our house. The sand came from the exploited mine on the dune,” he said.

“Just after 10 minutes, the dragon fruit orchard with 2-meter poles became dazzlingly white because it was covered with sand. It was so lucky that the doors of the house were closed, therefore, only a small volume of sand flowed into the house,” he added.

The sand flooding in people’s house came from the project site of Duong Anh Joint Stock Company which got the license from the Binh Thuan provincial authorities to exploit titanium ores and collect sand on the area of 7.2 hectares.

According to Tran Van Bon, Secretary of the Tan Thanh Commune’s Party Committee, before kicking off the project, on May 5, 2011, the investor met local residents in Van Ke hamlet, promising not to cause the environment pollution during the exploitation process. However, in fact, local residents have been “living together with fears” since the project was kicked off.

Since the exploitation site is located on the dune higher by 30 meters than people’s houses, it is nearly impossible to prevent sand from spreading out, and just a small rain can make the sand flood in people’s houses.

Right after the “sandstorm”, the Binh Thuan provincial Department for Natural Resources and the Environment requested the company to stop the exploitation for 90 days and fix the problems. The provincial authorities also have decided to impose a fine of 93.5 million dong on Duong Anh Company.

The company then gave Chau VND415 million (USD2,142) in compensation for the damages to the dragon fruit orchard.

The sandstorm and the polluted water sources

Though the Duong Anh’s project has just been kicked off, it has caused big consequences to the lives of local residents. On October 19, all the 64 households living near the dune gathered a meeting, where they warned the company that if the company does not apply necessary measures to prevent the pollution, they would ask the local authorities to order to stop the implementation of the project.

The titanium overexploitation has brought about a lot of consequences to tourism sites, polluted the environment where thousands of households live. Meanwhile, experts have warned that they may face sandstorms at any time.

According to the Binh Thuan Department for Science and Technology, the radioactivity in the titanium exploitation areas has exceeded the allowed level. When it rains heavily, the sand on the dune flows to people’s houses.

Hong Chinh hamlet proves to be the biggest sufferer. Since it is located on the low position, the titanium exploitation at Thien Ai mine is gradually killing the living environment of the hamlet. Especially, the water resource in the hamlet has become a salt-marsh area. It is because the exploiter uses the underground water for the exploitation and processing, which has made the water resource depleted.

Regarding the solutions to settle the environment pollution on Thien Ai mine area, Secretary of the Hoa Thang commune’s party committee Truong Quang Tho said that two solutions have been suggested. One of the two solutions is to install a water supply system for local residents in Hong Chinh hamlet.

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