KOTA KINABALU: The illegal gold mining operations in Tawau should be suspended if the Sabah government wants to achieve environmental sustainability.
Sarifuddin Hata (Warisan-Merotai) said Bukit Mantri gold mining is illegal because there is no new approval from the Malaysian Mineral and Geoscience Department (JMG) as the approval to mine gold expired on Oct 31, this year.
He pointed out that a letter issued by the department to the Sabah Land and Survey Department director following the meeting of the Committee on the Mining Operation Scheme Approval Letter has recommended that all mining and processing activities on CL.105651438, Bukit Mantri, Balung, Tawau, operations be suspended with immediate effect.
"The state government is allocating RM144.4 million next year to take green sustainability into account.
"In fact, the state government allocated RM7.81 million to the Environment Protection Department for environmental protection activities.
"However, I think we cannot achieve environmental sustainability if the government itself does not respect the regulations that have been set in the law, especially in gold mining in Bukit Mantri, Tawau district," he said when debating the Sabah Budget 2024 at the state assembly sitting here.
Sarifuddin said until now, mining works are still taking place.
He added that a response from the state government through the Land and Survey Department had stated that there are many negative implications for stopping gold operations at Bukit Mantri.
"Among them is that we will lack revenue which is a royalty of five percent. When I look at the budget for next year, it is RM5.8 million. What we have to sacrifice is the ecosystem and also the sustainability of nature.
"So, I would like the government or JMG or any agency involved to please stop the operation until there is Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) approval from the Environment Department and permit approval from JMG.
"We (the country) have a law. This is not a cowboy country, where there is no law," he said while hoping the state budget is not merely a rhetoric.
Meanwhile, Mohd Tamin @ Tamin Zainal (BN-Pantai Manis) disclosed that Sabah has its own coal resources and power plant capacity that can be developed over 1000mw.
He said according to the Mineral Resource Assessment Activity 2021 report conducted by Compendium, coal reserves in Sabah have an estimated amounting to 1,562,150,000 tonnes metrics worth RM94,460 billion.
"Accordingly, I suggest coal as an alternative source of electricity since it is the cheapest so that the people will be able to enjoy a lower electricity tariff rate.
"However, these resources need to be managed effectively to optimise the state revenue."
He also noted that based on Malaysia Energy Statistics 2021 as of Dec 31, 2020, the report on coal capacity in Sabah is not yet available.
"Unlike in peninsular Malaysia which has been developed as much as 12180mw while in Sarawak 1103.9mw. These statistics show that Sabah is still far behind in terms of the use of coal as a source of electricity."