Gold rush in Prey Lang forest

For four years now, this mineral-flecked land deep inside the Prey Lang forest has drawn thousands of small-scale seasonal miners. … There are perks to working the dry season: space is one, avoiding the unofficial “taxation” system is another. For years, development agencies have urged a sweeping licensing scheme to help monitor and regulate the small-scale mining sector. Though it is required that artisanal mines be licensed under the Law on Management and Exploitation of Mineral Resources, the reality is that few, if any, are. While the legal framework is solidly in place, the UNDP wrote in a 2011 briefing paper on small-scale mines, “this legal clause has not been developed as an active policy tool yet.” “New policies should be developed to allow [Artisanal and small-scale mining] ASM workers and companies to work together to facilitate sharing of resource access as well as to provide equitable treatment and opportunities for ASM workers to acquire licenses,” the authors urged. … Of a dozen miners interviewed, each, to a man, said the biggest headache of the profession was dealing with the soldiers. … Less than 50 kilometres away, the soil is rocky and minerals can be extracted only with corrosive acids that leech into the ground – destroying the environment, and bringing with it a slew of health issues. Miners there find themselves under near-constant threat from encroaching Chinese- and Korean-owned companies: large-scale operations that employ hundreds who previously mined the land on their own terms. …

http://www.phnompenhpost.com/2013021361348/National/gold-rush-in-prey-lang-forest.html