Interior Minister General Anupong Paojinda said on Tuesday that he had ordered an investigation into allegations that some sand-mining boats on the Mekong River had dug up sand outside of the areas allowed under their permits.

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The strong increase in coal prices has rekindled hopes for Vietnam’s miners and securities investors after a period of disappointment. After eight years of decline, the coal price began recovering in early 2016. Analysts commented that the coal price has been witnessing the strongest recovery compared with other types of energy. By November 2016, the coal price had increased by 112 percent compared to earlier this year. According to BIDV Securities, there are two reasons. First, in mid-2015, China created the policy of restricting the opening of coal mines for less than 273 days (the duration was 330 days in the past). The decision forced the country to increase imports, because coal accounts for 64 percent of energy consumption in China. Second, President-elect Trump’s mentioning of the policies to help better the US coal industry caused the coal price to increase sharply. The price soared by 20 percent on November 10.

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Minister of Mines and Energy Suy Sem on December 6 announced in Koh Kong province the creation of a community fund of nearly $40,000 for Koh Sralao village, according to a ministry official, who said the funds came from a 2-cent-per-cubic-metre levy imposed on sand dredgers in the area. Hing Tun, chief of the ministry’s mine construction department, said the funds had been collected between 2007 and 2015, and that villagers could propose projects such as roads and water systems “and the ministry will drop the funds if the ministry has money”. “Villagers are happy to have this fund; they can get roads and travel easily – they congratulate this plan,” he said, insisting that dredging activities in the area had now ceased. Local resident Ek Sophal, who attended the event where the fund was announced, said the figure given was just over $37,000, and contested Tun’s assertion that dredging had stopped, saying it still continued under cover of nightfall.

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The Industry Ministry is pushing for the development of quartz mining, as this mineral is an important raw material for the production of solar panels. According to the ministry’s Department of Primary Industries and Mines, the Kingdom has reserves of 25 million tonnes of high-quality quartz that could be used to manufacture about 6 million tonnes of solar-cell-grade silicon, which in turn could generate 1 million megawatts of electricity, or 24 times Thailand’s peak power demand recorded this year. The mineral could create no less than Bt3.6 trillion in income for the country, exclusive of related high-tech industries that could be developed concurrently, said the department’s deputy director-general Somboon Yindeeyoungyuen. “We’re confident that if an integrated solar-power industry is developed from our indigenous quartz resources, it will generate enormous revenue for the country as well as bringing down the cost of solar power, making it competitive with other choices of energy. And Thailand will become the largest hub of silicon [solar-cell-grade] silicon and solar panels in ASEAN,” he said.

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Facing mounting scrutiny over the country’s sand trade, the Ministry of Mines and Energy said on November 16 that all sand extraction had been suspended in Koh Kong province, where much of the country’s extraction takes place. “We have suspended it for a long time already,” ministry spokesman Meng Saktheara said on November 16, referring further questions to his colleague Dith Tina, who did not respond to requests for comment. Alex Gonzalez-Davidson, exiled director of the environmental NGO Mother Nature, confirmed that the group’s members had observed a lull in the activity, but said it only began in recent days. “We noticed that approximately on the 10th or 11th, most activities had come to a stop, and we will receive more reports on whether they have restarted in the next few days,” he said in an online message, adding that it was possible operations were continuing in more remote locations.

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