Two gold-mining companies have caused serious damage to a wildlife sanctuary in central Cambodia, according to an environmental activist who urged the government to stop their forest-clearing activities.
Chinese-owned Late Cheng Mining Development Co. Ltd. and Cambodian K88 Industry have been mining in Prey Lang Wildlife Sanctuary in Kampong Thom province, said Minh Ny, a member of the Prey Lang Community Network, an organization of community members who collect information on illegal logging and other activity.
The wildlife sanctuary, created in 2016, covers nearly 490,000 hectares (1.2 million acres) and includes mainland Southeast Asia’s largest lowland evergreen rainforest.
Late Cheng Mining Development received a license from the Cambodian government in 2020 to explore more than 15,100 hectares (37,300 acres) in Sochet commune of Sandan district in Kampong Thom province for gold deposits.
The area lies partly inside the Prey Lang Wildlife Sanctuary and near Phnom Chi, a mountain tourist area.
“The government or the Ministry of Mines and Energy, the Ministry of Environment –- you should inspect the area because this forest is in the Prey Lang Wildlife Sanctuary and it should not be subjected to the concession anymore,” Minh Ny said to Radio Free Asia on Monday.
The Ministry of Mines said in a statement earlier this year that it would “end illegal anarchic mining activities.” The ministry underscored the danger of illegal mines that use chemicals and explosives and rely on deep wells dug without proper techniques.
But residents living near the sanctuary told RFA in May that large scale mines continued to operate unimpeded, though their impact on the protected forest has been long recorded.
Private security guards have continued to patrol the area and the mines were running as usual, the resident said.
“More and more Chinese are building roads everywhere, not just on a small scale, but on a large scale,” said Chan Sorya who lives in Kampong Thom province’s Sochet commune.
This week, another Sochet commune resident, Soeun Sochea, told RFA that he has witnessed other forest clearing activities in Prey Lang that he believed were separate from the two mining companies.
“Environmental officials, the director of the Department of Environment and all relevant officials are responsible,” he said. “These officials should prevent and search for those involved and bring them to justice so that we can take care of Prey Lang.”
RFA was unable to reach Ministry of Mines and Energy spokesman Ing Depola and Kampong Thom provincial Gov. Nuon Pharath for comment on Monday.
Translated by Sum Sok Ry. Edited by Matt Reed and Malcolm Foster.
