A Crackdown on Illegal Bauxite Mining

A Crackdown on Illegal Bauxite Mining

At last Malaysian authorities are stepping up their efforts to clamp down on illegal bauxite mining in Pahang. A few days ago the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) arrested a senior Customs officer and nine officials from the Pahang Land and Mineral Office (PTG) for allegedly abetting miners in their illegal…

Officials ‘Who Aided’ Illegal Bauxite Mining are Nabbed in Pahang

Officials ‘Who Aided’ Illegal Bauxite Mining are Nabbed in Pahang

First came evidence that despite a year and a half-long moratorium on all bauxite mining in Pahang exports of the iron ore has been rising steadily for months. Now comes some welcome action by local authorities. To wit: the Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) has arrested a senior Customs officer and…

Bauxite ban in Pahang remains in Place

Bauxite ban in Pahang remains in Place

People in Pahang can now breathe a sigh of relief. It’s official: the country’s federal government has extended the ban on all bauxite mining in the state for another three months. Certainly a welcome development, this. The moratorium was put in place in January last year and has since been extended and re-extended repeatedly….

Mining Ban may be extended Further

Mining Ban may be extended Further

Another three months. That’s how long Malaysia’s government may extend the moratorium on bauxite mining in Pahang. A good thing, too, all things considered. The ban has been in place, through repeated extensions, since January 15 last year and is due to expire at the end of this month. The cause…

Mining Operators ‘might be breaking’ Bauxite Ban

Mining Operators ‘might be breaking’ Bauxite Ban

A ban on all bauxite mining remains in place in Pahang, but that may not have stopped some operators from trying to resume their mining activities clandestinely. Villagers have drawn that conclusion after discovering two excavators in the village of Kampung Jeram. The local contractor reportedly said he had obtained a permit to…

Mining Pools pose Lethal Dangers

Mining Pools pose Lethal Dangers

They are “child magnets,” according to an MP in Kuantan. Holes in the ground left behind by bauxite miners in the Kuantan area, holes which have since been filled with water, appearing like handy little pools to local children who may feel like taking dips in them in the heat. The pools can be deadly,…

Bauxite Mining has Tainted Pahang Fish

Bauxite Mining has Tainted Pahang Fish

If you needed any more proof of the (literally) poisonous effects of bauxite mining in Kuantan, here it comes: studies done by the Malaysian Fisheries Department have shown that local fish has been contaminated with heavy metals. The contamination has, in other words, entered the food chain, just as environmentalists…

Bauxite Ban remains in Place

Bauxite Ban remains in Place

The moratorium on bauxite mining in Pahang has been extended, extended again and then extended yet again since last January, when it was first imposed initially. Now, in a move that should please environmentalists and long-suffering Pahang locals alike, the government has decided to extend the ban yet again, for another…

Illegal Mining is Going on in Pahang

Illegal Mining is Going on in Pahang

There has been a moratorium on bauxite mining in Pahang for almost a year, but that has not stopped some fly-by-night operators from continuing to extract the aluminum ore on the sly. So says Natural Resources and Environment Minister Wan Junaidi Tuanku Jaafar. He has pointed at the mounds of bauxite…

Kuantan Rivers have been Polluted with Heavy Metals

Kuantan Rivers have been Polluted with Heavy Metals

Some experts expressed fears almost a year ago that a pernicious side-effect of unregulated bauxite mining in Pahang might well have been the pollution of local water sources with heavy metals. “Almost all the water for consumption in Kuantan is drawn downstream from the mines,” observed Dr. Maketab Mohamed, an associate professor at Universiti…

Miners are ‘Flouting’ Bauxite Ban

Miners are ‘Flouting’ Bauxite Ban

The moratorium on bauxite mining remains firmly in place in Pahang. So far so good. The ban, however, may not be being enforced locally to the degree it should be. Locals are reporting that some miners have been transporting bauxite ore illegally and surreptitiously, using back roads. They may also…