Extractive Industries

An Australia-based firm that announced a plan to explore for gold in Ratanakkiri province insisted Monday that its Cambodian venture is still on track, despite allegations made in an Australian newspaper that it has garnered investment based on false information. Astra Resources, which has companies incorporated ...

Cambodia imported 727,500 tons of petroleum in the first five months of the year, a 2 percent drop from 744,700 tons a year earlier, the figures of the Ministry of Commerce showed Saturday. A liter of premium gasoline goes for 1.38 U.S. dollars in Phnom ...

“These are the best quality stones,” Lat Yun says with a grin. Nestled in his outstretched hand are three unassuming rocks. “I don’t know what they’re called, I just know they’re the best.” The gemstones of Ratanakkiri are a mineral called zircon, but in Cambodia, they ...

Gold prices in Cambodia are down about 27 per cent from January through June, according to the Ministry of Commerce. Gold trade changed little yesterday after the biggest drop in almost two weeks in response to the US Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S Bernanke’s comments ...

The total weight of goods transported through the Sihanoukville Autonomous Port in the first six months of the year was up 15 percent compared with the same period last year, according to figures released Thursday. Some 1.51 million tons of goods passed through the port in ...

Gold prices in Phnom Penh have plummeted by almost a quarter in the past six months as international prices dropped, sparking a rush on buying gold locally, traders said Tuesday. Gold was selling at $1,540 per damlung (26.67 damlung is equal to 1 kg of gold) ...

Dam-building and gold mining in southern Laos are ruining water quality downstream on the Sekong River in Cambodia, where villagers are no longer able to drink or use the water, according to an environmental group. The activities undertaken by Lao and Vietnamese companies on the Sekong’s ...

The government does little to protect the rights and livelihoods of the country’s many ethnic minorities who are under constant threat from rapid development, representatives of indigenous groups said yesterday. “We have polices laws and guidelines to protect indigenous people, but we see that it doesn’t ...

Human rights workers and other civil society groups on Wednesday urged the competing political parties for July’s election to address the ongoing land crises and illegal deforestation that are hurting indigenous populations. About 100 people from various ethnic minority groups from five provinces attended a forum ...

National energy supplier Electricite du Cambodge (EdC) on Monday announced that a 50-MW coal-fired power plant in Preah Sihanouk province is ready to come online this week and will solve Phnom Penh’s chronic blackouts. The statement does not mention which power plant had been completed, ...

The Australian Federal Police (AFP) said Monday they have taken the necessary steps to investigate claims that the world’s largest mining company, BHP Billiton, bribed officials in Cambodia and played down reports that it had mishandled one the country’s largest cases in corporate corruption. “The ...

Cambodia has eyed to become a precious stone and jewelry hub in Southeast Asia region in the near future, Minister of Commerce Cham Prasidh said Thursday. Speaking at the opening of the 5th international gems and jewelry fair here, the minister said that with the fast ...

The foreign ministers of Thailand and Cambodia signed a memorandum of understanding in Phnom Penh yesterday reconfirming their commitment to developing their joint border with new economic zones, checkpoints and a 1,800-MW power plant. “We have agreed to create four international checkpoints to improve trade ...

Officials are predicting an increase in visitors and a glitzy showcase when the 5th Cambodia Gems and Jewelry Fair opens this Thursday in Phnom Penh. Set in the Diamond Island Convention and Exhibition Centre, the four-day event is drawing buyers and traders to Phnom Penh amid ...

The hunt for oil around northwestern Cambodia has unearthed “positive” results for Japan Oil, Gas and Metals National Corporation (JOGMEC), which intends to continue exploring the area in a project that could last at least six more years, a government spokesman said. JOGMEC’s survey on the ...

Cambodia’s reliance on imported fossil fuels to meet its energy needs is set to increase in the coming years, despite the raft of hydropower projects planned by the government, according to new data from the Asian Development Bank (ADB). Using baseline figures from the Institute ...

Canadian miner Angkor Gold has found “visible gold in the soil samples” in the Otray prospect in Ratanakkiri province, which hints at possibly larger reserves, said CEO and chairman Mike Weeks in a press release published on Wednesday. ...

Cambodia is expected to be able to produce about half the energy it needs by 2035, according to the Asian Development Bank (ADB), but the Kingdom – along with its neighbours – should also consider integrating their energy grids, which would bring about more competitive ...

The government plans to draft a law designed to govern safety standards in the Kingdom’s mining industry, an official said yesterday, little more than a week after at least one gold miner went missing when a shaft collapsed in Preah Vihear province. Khieu Muth, a secretary ...

Geopacific Resources, an Australian mineral exploration company, said it has extended the zone of copper found in Preah Vihear province’s Kou Sa district to 18 kilometres, the company announced yesterday. ...

Blackouts in Phnom Penh will no longer be a problem after an energy source near Sihanoukville starts providing an extra 50 megawatts of coal-fired power to the city next month, the director-general of Electricite du Cambodge (EdC) said. Keo Rottanak said by mid-June at the latest ...

A gold mine shaft has collapsed in Preah Vihear province, trapping at least seven miners, officials said Monday. The collapse took place in a shaft that is typically mined by up to 60 people at a time, he [Rovieng Police Chief Sin Thorn]. Sin Thorn said ...

Two-way trade between Vietnam and Cambodia in the first four months of the year reached nearly US$1.3 billion, a 10 per cent rise over the same period last year. According to the Vietnam Trade Office in Cambodia, Vietnam’s exports to Cambodia fetched over $1 billion while ...

With the potential for vast state revenues from oil extraction and mining in coming years, Cambodia is currently failing to manage its nascent extractive industries according to a think tank. New York-based Revenue Watch Institute yesterday launched its 2013 Resource Governance Index, which included Cambodia for ...