Strengthening management of mineral exploitation activities

Nghi Son town currently has 33 mineral mines for common construction materials (25 stone mines, 2 sand mines, 6 soil mines) with a total licensed mining reserve of nearly 53.2 million m3. To put this activity into order, avoid wasting resources and losing State budget revenue, Nghi Son town has implemented many solutions to strengthen State management of mineral exploitation activities.

Strengthening management of mineral exploitation activities Limestone mining in Tan Truong commune (Nghi Son town).

Tan Truong commune has 12 limestone mines, of which 9 mines with 9 licensed enterprises are operating in stone mining and processing. Previously, the management of mineral exploitation activities was loose, so the situation of rampant and uncontrolled exploitation, causing waste and loss of the State budget was quite common. However, since the Law on Minerals (amended in 2018) of the National Assembly took effect from January 1, 2019 and implemented Directive No. 10/CT-UBND, dated August 25, 2022 of the Chairman of Thanh Hoa Provincial People's Committee on "Strengthening mineral management and environmental protection in mineral activities in Thanh Hoa province" has fundamentally changed the work of protecting, managing, exploiting and using national mineral resources in Tan Truong commune. Up to now, mineral exploitation activities have been carried out in accordance with the provisions of the Mineral Law and have gradually become routine, contributing to the State budget revenue.

To achieve this result, according to Mr. Nguyen Anh Hung, Chairman of Tan Truong Commune People's Committee, in addition to promoting propaganda and dissemination of directive documents from superiors, the locality, together with departments and branches of the town and province, periodically inspects, urges and reminds stone mining and processing enterprises to comply with and strictly comply with the provisions of the Law on Minerals... Currently, most stone mining and processing enterprises in the area have paid attention to investing in modern machinery for mining activities. At the same time, many enterprises have installed weighing stations and cameras, helping the State management agency to effectively manage mineral exploitation in the area.

According to the Department of Natural Resources and Environment of Nghi Son town, there are 33 enterprises operating in the field of mineral exploitation in the town. In order to enhance the role of State management in mineral exploitation activities, the town has issued documents directing and promoting the dissemination of the Law on Minerals to the People's Committees at the commune level and units operating in mineral exploitation in the area to comply with the provisions of the law in mineral exploitation activities. At the same time, assigning, decentralizing and assigning specific responsibilities to each locality and related units. In addition, the town also coordinates with related sectors and provincial units to inspect the compliance with the law on minerals for units operating in mineral exploitation activities to prevent and repel illegal exploitation and transportation of minerals in the area... Thereby, the awareness of compliance with State regulations in mineral exploitation activities of enterprises has been raised. Up to now, the majority of licensed enterprises operating in the field of mineral exploitation and processing have consciously complied with the provisions of the law and regulations of the province and locality, ensuring security, order and labor safety. At the same time, they strictly implemented the exploitation within the boundary, performed responsibilities and obligations in exploitation, production, business activities and environmental protection measures...

However, there are still some mineral exploitation units that have not complied with regulations in mineral exploration, exploitation, processing and transportation activities. From 2023 to present, Nghi Son town has coordinated with all levels and sectors to organize many inspections, detect and administratively handle 3 enterprises (2 limestone mining enterprises and 1 land exploitation enterprise for filling materials), namely Thanh Phat Petroleum Investment and Trading Joint Stock Company, Trung Nam Company Limited and Duc Minh Enterprise, with violations such as: mining beyond capacity and beyond the licensed area boundary... with a total fine of over 1 billion VND.

To continue to strengthen the management of mineral exploitation activities in Nghi Son town, in addition to promoting propaganda, dissemination and legal education to raise awareness of all levels, sectors and people about the Mineral Law and the province's directive documents on strengthening the implementation of mineral law policies, the town also organizes training sessions on the management and protection of unexploited mineral resources for commune-level officials and civil servants. At the same time, develop plans and assign specific tasks to localities and related units to effectively organize the implementation of mineral protection work in the town. In addition, the town will strengthen inspection and strict control of illegal mineral exploration, exploitation and transportation activities and strictly handle violations within its authority.

In addition, the town also hopes that the province will continue to pay attention to directing provincial departments and branches, especially the provincial police force and the town police, to strengthen patrolling, control, detection and timely prevention of illegal mining and transportation of minerals, especially in areas bordering many districts. At the same time, consider and supplement the mineral land use index for the town to use as a basis for implementing projects to ensure feasibility. The town also requests the Department of Natural Resources and Environment, in addition to continuing to strengthen inspection and examination of licensed mineral exploitation activities, to advise the province on measures to rectify the mineral exploitation activities of organizations and individuals operating in the area. In addition, further improve the quality of appraisal of mineral exploitation license dossiers.

Article and photos: Minh Ly

Source