KUANTAN: While the Water, Land and Natural Resources Ministry announced that the bauxite mining moratorium will not be extended beyond March 31, there is still uncertainty if mining works will resume in April.
Kuantan member of parliament Fuziah Salleh expressed doubts if mining work would resume in April, saying there were several issues that had to be scrutinised and ironed out, especially involving the standard operating procedure (SOP) and Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) report on bauxite mining here.
She said the state government had yet to provide the SOP on bauxite mining while the EIA report, which was supposed to be ready by the end of last year, had yet to be submitted to the Energy, Technology, Science, Climate Change and Environment Ministry.
Fuziah said there were four aspects of the SOP — mining, transportation, storage and export — that had to be tackled by the state government as it is the Pahang government which would be responsible for issuing mining licences to operators.
“The former natural resources and environment minister (Datuk Seri Dr Wan Junaidi Tuanku Jaafar) had previously proposed the state government make amendments in the Pahang Mineral Enactment by removing the minimum acreage (previously the minimum acreage that did not require EIA was 250ha).
“The Pahang State Development Corporation (PKNP) had conducted the EIA on a huge piece of land (measuring some 3,642ha) but till today the report has not been submitted to the Energy, Technology, Science, Climate Change and Environment Ministry. A Detailed Environmental Impact Assessment (DEIA) is required for each mining site and not a huge one (covering the entire area),” she told reporters after visiting SM Chong Hwa.
Fuziah said the new rules whereby mined bauxite ore must be washed at the site before it is sent to the port for export has raised another concern as to where the waste water will flow.
“It is a dangerous process... when we wash the earth for bauxite ore, the heavy metals in the earth will be separated. The heavy metals have to be treated and not allowed to flow into the river or else it will contaminate the water quality... I am very concerned about this.
“That is the reason I kept emphasising that I want to see the SOP. The transportation and enforcement is under the state government, and once the minerals reach the port, the storage and export is also handled by the state government... I am not sure how mining works will resume (in April) if there is no proper SOP,” she said.
Fuziah, who is a deputy minister in the Prime Minister’s Department, dismissed claims that she was not aware of the move to lift the bauxite moratorium, as alleged by MCA vice-president Datuk Seri Ti Lian Ker.
“Not true. I was aware as it was discussed in the cabinet... only that the cabinet’s decision is that the moratorium will only be lifted after everyone is satisfied with the SOP... the problem now is the SOP is prepared by the state government.
“In fact, after the meeting, I met Tun (Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad). I told him that I am very worried as previously the state could not enforce (the law) and did not even have an EIA, and he replied that (we should) make sure they (mining sites) have EIA,” she said.
Ti had recently claimed that Fuziah seemed not informed and consulted when the decision to lift the bauxite-mining moratorium was made.