Extractive Industries

The National Assembly’s anti-corruption commission has asked Suy Sem, the minister of mines and energy, to appear for questioning on December 15, as villagers in Koh Kong province cast doubt on government claims that it had temporarily banned sand mining there. Mr. Sem will answer questions ...

The National Assembly’s anti-corruption commission will summon Minister of Mines and Energy Suy Sem to answer questions about an apparent $700 million discrepancy in sand exports to Singapore. ...

Canadian exploration company Angkor Gold announced on Tuesday that it agreed to buy back all shares sold to investors in 2014, through its net smelter rights (NSR) scheme in the Kingdom’s first commercial underground gold mine in Phum Syarung, in Rattanakiri’s O’Yadaw district – now ...

Civil society members and Ministry of Mines and Energy officials came together recently to discuss discrepancies in the export figures of sand from Cambodia to Singapore, after 47 NGOs wrote an open letter early this month to the ministry seeking an explanation. The letter from civil ...

Last month’s purchase by Singapore-listed KrisEnergy of a 42.75 percent working interest in the Block A offshore energy concession made them a majority owner in the project, with an overwhelming control of 95 percent of the stakes. This acquisition is expected to accelerate the development ...

Illegal sand dredging has been eradicated from Cambodia, but reforms are still needed, the Ministry of Mines and Energy said on Wednesday, facing mounting blowback over sand export records that differ by tens of millions of cubic meters from those kept by the U.N. ...

Cambodia is overcoming “ineffective practices” and should not be held to the standards of developed countries, a Commerce Ministry spokeswoman said on Tuesday amid renewed calls for the government to investigate over $400 million in unrecorded sand exports to Singapore. ...

The Mines and Energy Ministry yesterday shut down six sand depots in Kandal province’s Sa’ang district for allegedly failing to “respect” a ministry directive concerning the proper transportation of sand, but they will be allowed to reopen on Wednesday if they agree to comply. ...

More than 500 villagers in Mondulkiri’s Chung Phlas’ mining community thumbprinted a letter sent to Prime Minister Hun Sen, and to the Ministry of Mines and Energy and its provincial counterpart, requesting that those holding a community mining licence be allowed to dig below the ...

In an effort to improve the governance of the Kingdom’s mining industry, with a focus on increasing revenue generation, the government has approved 11 articles largely concerning export permits for mined resources. A September 22 sub-decree signed by Prime Minister Hun Sen, but released by the ...

Singaporean customs data on sand imports from Cambodia show near identical figures to those recorded by the UN, which last month were dismissed by a top official amid a reporting discrepancy in the hundreds of millions of dollars. ...

Australian mining company Emerald Resources has found “encouraging” results from a round of infill drilling at its Okvau gold project in Mondulkiri province, the company said in a filing to the ASX yesterday. ...

An insurrection led by ethnic Jarai villagers against the Kingdom’s first commercial underground gold mine, to be operated by Indian-owned Mesco Gold (Cambodia), looms over the green, serene remote hamlet of Plung, a few kilometers from the Vietnamese border, in Ratanakiri’s O’Yadaw district. ...

In the first eight months of the year the Ministry of Mines and Energy has already surpassed its annual target for non-tax revenue collection from sand dredging and construction material-related mining operations, collecting 117 percent of the $6.6 million outlined in the 2016 national budget, ...

Over 40 new mining licences were issued during the first half of the year to satisfy the high demand for construction materials by Cambodian infrastructure and real estate projects, while more than 100 licences were revoked due to environmental concerns or inactivity, a government official ...

Rattanakiri provincial authorities were urged by a National Assembly commission yesterday to take swift action against illegal gem mining, which they blamed on infrastructure damage and tax revenue loss. Speaking after a meeting with provincial authorities at the provincial hall, opposition member Heng Danaro said the ...

Cambodia urged the heads of all Asean national oil companies to cooperate together to ensure that there is demand and supply of energy in the 10-nation grouping, said a senior official in the Ministry of Mines and Energy. ...

In the wake of recent illegal digging in the capital, Minister of Mines and Energy Suy Sem has called on the Phnom Penh city governor to stop issuing licences allowing businesses to dig soil in the city and to strengthen its enforcement on a longstanding ...

In a milestone for Cambodia’s nascent mining industry, the government has issued the first commercial mining licence to Mesco Gold, giving the Indian mining firm a green light to extract and process ore at its gold project in Ratanakkiri province, industry sources said yesterday. The landmark ...

Cambodia’s oil and gas reserves will not see any production until at least 2018, according to a report by London-based BMI. ...

The Ministry of Mines and Energy is set to issue the country’s first commercial underground mining license to Indian company Mesco Gold in two weeks, despite opposition by residents of two villages concerned about compensation and environmental damage. The company plans to break ground on its ...

The Ministry of Commerce is visiting the Kingdom’s petroleum importers to check their inventories following the release of new regulations this week that require the companies to maintain and report their stock levels, a ministry official said yesterday. ...

The 42nd Asean Council on Petroleum members’ meeting will be held in Siem Reap next month, a senior government official told Khmer Times. The meeting, which will include representatives from the national petroleum companies of the nine other Asean members, plus Cambodia’s Ministry of Mines and ...

While local petroleum prices have dropped by nearly a quarter of their value since the start of the year, companies operating in the Kingdom’s highly competitive transportation sector insist they have not been able to convert lower fuel costs into higher profits – even when ...