Extractive industries include mining and mineral sectors, natural gas and oil exploration, petroleum refineries, and quarrying for construction resources such as sand, stone, and gravel. Cambodia’s extractive resources have gone largely untapped, while these resources are geographically identifiable.
The government considers extractive industries a potentially important sector to fuel economic development. Under the Constitution, all-natural resources are the property of the state, and therefore, mining conducted without a license is illegal. Except for oil and petroleum, most extractive industries are regulated by the Ministry of Mines and Energy (MME), formerly the Ministry of Industry, Mines and Energy, or MIME.
Mining has both potentially positive and negative impacts on the social, economic, and environment. The potential positive impacts of mining are development and financial benefits (wealth creation and increased investment) and benefits for local people (employment, skills, improved infrastructure, as well as education and social programs). Cambodia will see how the mining industry can benefit the country after 2023, as it will create a stronger economic foundation, more job opportunities, and more business. The revenue generated by extractive industries should be directed to a national fund that can be used to cover priority areas such as education, public health, and social protection. Cambodia joined the ranks of the world’s gold producers with the start of production in the Okvau Area of Keo Seima District in Mondulkiri Province, where Renaissance Minerals has been exploring and researching for 14 years. The project is expected to provide $185 million in annual national income for Cambodia, including at least $40 million in royalties and tax revenue, which would be used for social development. Additionally, the GDP from mining in Cambodia increased from approximately $204 million in 2018 to $248 million in 2019… Read more
The line graph below presents the revenue in the financial law and the implementation year of mining and oil and gas concessions from 2019 to 2022. Revenue from mining concessions has increased consistently by 58.29% from 64,036.26 million Riels for the implementation revenue in 2019 to 101,363.08 million Riels for the implementation revenue in 2022. Revenue from oil and gas concessions rose slightly for 2020, while revenue in the financial law escalated from 6,166 in 2019 to 93,101 in 2020. However, the revenue from oil and gas concessions decreased to 0 for the implementation year of 2021 and 2022.
The table below shows that the government received 34,986,193.79 US dollars in royalties from 20 different types of mining businesses in 2022. With a production volume of 12,044,264.52 tons, the limestone business (used in agriculture and industry) generated the highest royalties, totaling US $ 7,226,558.71. The sandy soil business produced the second-highest royalties at US $ 6,114,391.87. Businesses on gold and all kinds of crushed stones brought in about US$5,353,813.58 and US$5,262,013.54, ranking third and fourth, respectively.
