Bauxite mining has been banned in Pahang since January. The moratorium on all mining activities will stay in place until at least the end of the year – and possibly much longer. The damage, however, has already been done. Some local residents have been suffering from a variety of ailments,…

Come June 15, bauxite mining will resume in Pahang. Or maybe not. The federal government is mulling extending the temporary ban further still to allow more time for operators and state officials to comply with more rigorous rules and regulations. Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) that are being currently designed and…

A basic principle of economics is supply and demand. When there is demand for a product, someone will be willing to supply it. At what cost to the environment that demand is met, however, is another matter altogether. And so it has proved with the mining of bauxite in Pahang….

Early this year a ship loaded with bauxite suddenly capsized and disappeared beneath the waves, leaving just one of its 19 crew members alive and spilling its entire shipment into the ocean. Bauxite mining in Malaysia is intensely controversial for several reasons, and this capsizing raises yet another – the…