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Toxic New China-Vietnam Bauxite Mining Network Threatens Tourism & Environment from Mondulkiri, Cambodia to Mui Ne, Vietnam

14.09.11 Deputy Prime Minister Hoan Trung Hai wrapped up deliberations last week on the new temporary shipment route for bauxite from the central highlands to Dong Nai. The route will gradually be replaced as a new deep-sea port begins developed at the former tourism destination of Khe Ga (known for its spectacular coastal scenery and picturesque French-colonial island lighthouse built in 1897). As the port is completed over the next few years, a joint China-Vietnam mining industry will deliver highly toxic bauxite materials directly from Bao Loc in Lam Dong Province (and Dak Nong Province), to the port processing plants at Khe Ga, in Binh Thuan Province. Most or all of the material will then be shipped to China.

"The transport of bauxite ore mining from the Highlands down to Binh Thuan is much less risky than the processing of alumina in the Highlands," Dr. Nguyen Thanh Son, Director of Red River Energy, told local news agency, Bee.net.

The China Connection

Vietnam's bauxite mining operations, managed by Chinese state-owned agencies, including: Aluminum Corp, Yunnan Metallurgy Group and Chalco, continue to be undertaken by thousands of undocumented Chinese workers living in politically sensitive areas of Vietnam.

Chinese bauxite mining in Vietnam has been one of the most controversial political issues in the past decade. The operations have displaces entire communities of indigenous hill tribes, who have been supplanted by entire villages of illegal Chinese workers. This has stoked fears, in an already China-phobic society, of a 'Chinese invasion.' Even high-level personalities have remained critical of the government position, including nationally-revered communist war hero, General Vo Nguyen Giap.

[Above left: Unusual in Vietnam's one-party communist system, General Vo Nguyen Giap opposes the Vietnam government's cooperation with China on bauxite mining.]

A Toxic Disaster Waiting to Happen

The China-Vietnam bauxite mining operation has stripped vast mountainsides of vegetation and topsoil in the Central Highlands, laying waste to entire valleys, desolate with permanent toxic contamination. The government's easiest solution to this dilemma is apparently to send the problems to Binh Thuan Province.

"At the economic level, employing pipeline to deliver bauxite ore from the Highlands to Binh Thuan will secure both economic efficiency and much more," said Quang Pham Tu, Deputy Director of Vietnam's Institute for Development Consulting.

"The transportation process will certainly affect the environment and increase transportation costs," says Nguyen Thanh Liem, head of Aluminum - Bauxite, Vietnam Coal and Mineral Group (TKV).

The bauxite problem is not unique to Vietnam. In October 2010, approximately one million cubic meters of 'red mud' from a bauxite processing plant near Kolontár, Hungary was accidentally released into the surrounding countryside, killing 9 people, inflicting chemical burns are numerous others, and contaminating a large area. All life in the Marcal River was extinguished by the red mud, and within days the sludge had reached the Danube River. The story made international news for weeks.

The new port in Khe Ga raises serious concerns about similar issues, as construction of a bauxite processing plant is part of the early phase of construction of the overall port.

"I think the best way, as proposed by many scientists, is that after bauxite mining is done in the Central Highlands, the red mud should be relocated to Binh Thuan province," said Nguyen Dinh Hoe of the Vietnam Nature and Environment Protection Society to Tuoi Tre Newspaper, "Because it would be less dangerous if the red mud leak into the sea."

Somehow we don't think the residents and tourists of Phan Thiet and Mui Ne will be comforted by Nguyen Dinh Hoe's sentiments, given the dangerous contamination will immediately wash up on beaches in the famous resort town.

An End to Khe Ga Tourism

The operation is yet another serious blow to both Binh Thuan's environment and tourism industry following the recent announcement that much of Binh Thuan, Vung Tau and Ninh Thuan provinces have been designated by Hanoi as one of the world's largest active titanium mining zones.

No less than 12 resort projects have been cancelled in Khe Ga by the government, and the properties reclaimed, to facilitate port development there. Many other tourism properties in the vicinity will also be threatened once the onslaught of heavy industrial vehicles brings construction work and toxic materials to the new bauxite refining and holding facilities.

"To avoid risk, it is best, after mining bauxite ore for alumina, to take it to Binh Thuan to process sludge and bury it near the sea," said Dr. Nguyen Dinh Hoe, Vietnam Association for Conservation of Nature and Environment.

The choice of Khe Ga as an industrial port is most curious, given that a very active port exists less than an hour to the west in La Gi. Khe Ga is one of the most scenic coastal zones in Binh Thuan Province, with local resort development only second to Mui Ne.

Environmental Threat to Ta Kou Moutain National Park

The adjacent Ta Kou Mountain National Park will be immediately threatened by the port development as well, given how close the park boundaries are situated to the coastline—and the fact that an improved highway to support the transport of bauxite to the new port has already been developed through the interior of the national park.

Ta Kou Mountain National Park, home to at least 5 species of rare primates, including Black Shanked Duoc Langurs, loris and leaf monkeys, is already being encroached by active titanium mining, which, according to government news agencies, is destroying the local water table and releasing dangerous radioactive material into the environment.

[Above right: Black-shanked Duoc Langurs are one of several threatened species at Takou Mountain]

Threat to Tourism & Environment of Mondulkiri, Cambodia

The new China-Vietnam Bauxite network is planned to extend not just from the South China Sea at Khe Ga, through Lam Dong Province and on to Dak Nong. A railway to transport bauxite and 'red mud' is currently under active development, which, according to Vietnam government sources, will eventually span from the coast all the way to Mondulkiri Province in eastern Cambodia.

[Above left: The China-Vietnam Bauxite mining could spell doom for the elephants and the rainforests of Mondulkiri, Cambodia]

Mondulkiri is the Vietnam government's next frontier in bauxite mining. The Mondulkiri mining operation, a province already devastated by extensive clear-cutting and logging by the Vietnamese government, could pose a serious threat to Phnum Namlier Wildlife Sanctuary, Mondulkiri's last bastion of rainforest and elephant habitat. The area is also home to a number of indigenous hill tribes, including the Phong, Ede (Rhade) and Brau, who are likely to be displaced by the China-Vietnam mining operations. These ethnic groups have recently come to subsist on tourism revolving around elephant trekking in the now-threatened rainforests.

"Cambodia has licensed Vinacomin to explore bauxite reserves in Mondulkiri. Currently, Vinacomin is bringing workers to Cambodia to carry out exploration of bauxite reserves with a total area of about 1,500 km2." Said Mr. Bui Van Khich, Vinacomin Deputy President. "Vinacomin will complete the exploration within 2 years, then report the results to the Cambodian Government to be licensed for mining and processing. Because Mundilkiri is located by the border with Dak Nong province (Vietnam), it is likely to have abundant reserves of bauxite," added Khich.