Policies for the sustainable development of mining industry

Policies for the sustainable development of mining industry Mining and mineral processing in Vietnam have contributed greatly to the economy and society of the country but also posed difficult problems in environmental protection. In order to solve these problems, it needs to be synchronized association of many social organizations, of which the most important is the need for orientation policies of the State.

Firstly, the State should focus on strengthening science and technology of intensive processing to ensure creation of value added for products of mining and mineral processing, catering mainly for domestic production. If development is based on resources and we expect too much on the existing mineral resources, Vietnam may fall into the “trap” and “resource curse” that many resource-rich countries in the world have made.

Therefore, it is required to complete the resource tax policy, (1) amending the regulations of tax base for mineral resources in the direction of replacing the base of mining volume by the volume of exploitable reserves; (2) appropriate resource tax exemption for the additional mining volume more than regulated: (i) in case, by discovering new reserves, the applicable tax rate is as normal, (ii) in case, the company tries to exploit more, the applicable exemption is under the marginal cost. The State will compensate by tax exemptions, including subsidies for the marginal cost increase (when mining the increased reserves) compared with mining cost of the reserves in accordance with the approved balance in the investment project.

Regarding to the mining and mineral processing, the reality of mining and mineral processing in recent years is still inadequate, limited. Many technologies are put to use (copper , ilmenite) is obsolete technology, not suitable for extracted mineral that leads to waste of resources, low level of recovery, no recovery of the useful accompanied components and negative impacts on the ecological environment and social life of the people in mining areas. To solve this problem, the government should adopt policies to increase investment in intensive processing. There must be specified intensive processing technologies for each particular type of mineral (especially for rare minerals) to force industries and production facilities in the country to produce raw mineral most economically and efficiently. It is time to have regulations on prohibiting the export of crude and refined ore as current.

Regarding to the management of environmental and social issues in mining, many mineral planning (such as planning of exploration, exploitation and processing of bauxite, titanium, chromium, manganese…) has not prepared strategic environmental assessment (SEA). In specific mining projects, most of them have made ​​environmental impact assessment (EIA) as prescribed but the quality is very low. Many records on environmental impact assessment are mainly for dealing with regulations.

There should be specific provisions relating to environmental protection such as: (i) Responsibility for the parties; (ii) The order and procedures for formulation and implementation of SEA, EIA; (iii) environmental observation and monitoring; (iv) collecting fees and using environmental protection fees, environmental fees must comply with the Law on Environmental Protection; (v) Deposits and funds used for environmental rehabilitation; (vi) Provisions on compensation, handling violation of environmental incidents and environmental regulations…

It must ensure to charge and use environmental protection fees associated with effective environmental protection. It is agreed to deposit in local environmental protection fund in places with mineral extraction to facilitate local management, supervision and necessary use of funds if companies do not perform environmental restoration.

The implementation of institutions, urgent development of missing mineral strategies and plans ensure high quality, performing the orientation functions and the basis for developing policy.

Early completion of legal documents relating to mineral resources takes into account the synchronous and uniform system of resource and environment management (environment of land, minerals, water…) on decentralization of management, licensing to reform administrative procedures.

In mineral license management, there should be priorities for units capable of mining, advanced technology and intensive processing. The State should have preferential policies for project with efficient use of minerals associated with environmental protection, contributing high value to society.

LÊ MAI

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