18 December 2002

ENVIRONMENT / MINING

Praphat Panyachartrak, minister of natural resources and environment, will use the newly passed mining law to demand a new environmental impact assessment (EIA) from the potash mine project in Udon Thani province, thus delaying the issuance of its mining licence.

``Now that the project is to be conducted under the new Minerals Act 2002, there needs to be a new EIA,'' Mr Praphat told opponents of the project from Udon Thani province yesterday.

The Minerals Act 2002, to be effective next month, allows operators to mine without needing land owners' permission provided the operation is 100 metres or more below the surface.

The original act did not allow any underground mining.

``Such a big project needs a thorough study. If we are lagging from the first project, there will be similar cases popping up in the future,'' he said.

Mr Praphat said he would ask the Office of Environmental Policy and Planning, the sole authority overseeing EIAs, to ask project developer Asia Pacific Potash Corp of Canada, to conduct a new EIA, which would be more comprehensive and in line with the new Minerals Act 2002.

Mr Praphat was responding to the Udon Thani Environmental Conservation Group, which submitted a list of over 5,000 project opponents and a letter calling on the ministry to scrap the current report and set up a new specialist committee to approve a new EIA.

The mining licence, to be issued by the Industry Ministry, which needed an approved EIA report, would consequently be put on hold, Mr Praphat said.

Academics would also be called on to study the possible impact of the project.

According to the opponents, the project's current EIA, planned to be submitted next year to the government as part of the application for a 22-year licence, covers only 6,000 rai of land or mainly the potash-dressing area.

The mining project, which costs more than 10 billion baht, reportedly would be operating over 15,000 rai of land at least 300 metres underground and could affect villagers in four tambons: Non Sung, Nong Pai, Huay Sampad and Na Muang.

The group said they were concerned about land subsidence and salinity from potash mining. Panya Khamrab, a villager, said he could not grow rice or raise cattle on his land because of the potash-saline left over from the drill test run by the company in 1993.

``If they have no measures to clean up the mess even for a small operation, they could easily create a disaster from the real project,'' he said.

At a press conference earlier this month, Asia Pacific Potash Corp said its environmental impact assessment study covered the entire underground mining area and that measures and mitigation plans had been designed to cope with subsidence as well as saline dust and water.

Matthew Blackwell, vice president, said the company was holding a legal and approved EIA as far as he was concerned. He said the company was unaware of its opponents' latest move and would not issue any comment until the minister's comment was confirmed and became legally effective.

Mr Blackwell also denied a rumour that the company was conducting a more thorough investigation of its EIA to cover up environmental flaws.

``We are reviewing aspects of the project, which may or may not have effects on the environment,'' he said.