News

An official at the Ministry of Mines and Energy has confirmed that a Chinese company is applying for a license to extract gold from a 100-hectare plot in Mondolkiri province, but insisted that the project would only go forward with the consent of local, small-scale ...

The release of the anticipated draft petroleum law – expected by the end of this year – has been postponed until several technical issues are clarified, a senior official at the Ministry of Mines and Energy said. ...

The Ministry of Mines and Energy collected approximately $3.5 million in non-tax revenue from the extraction industry during the first six months of the year—about 92 percent of what it collected from the sector in all of 2014, ministry spokesman Meng Saktheara said Tuesday. ...

Cambodia’s new mining law is on track for adoption by the end of this year and will introduce a raft of reforms to the sector, a senior official said, although the country’s mining tax will likely remain the same. Meng Saktheara, secretary of state at the ...

Meng Saktheara wants to take some of the risk out of one of the riskiest businesses in Cambodia – commercial gold mining. As Indian mining giant Mesco Gold seeks a permit to build and operate the country’s first commercial gold mine in Ratanakkiri province, Mr. ...

The Ministry of Mines and Energy on Friday announced the provisional winners of its public auction to award four licenses to dredge sand on a stretch of the Mekong River clogged by a build-up of silt, which is obstructing the passage of vessels through the ...

The Ministry of Mines and Energy will hold an auction next month putting up for sale four licenses to dredge sand along a stretch of the Mekong River, according to a statement posted to the ministry’s website on Tuesday. ...

An environmental activist and a fisherman said Sunday that about 70 residents of Koh Kong province had worked together over the past few days to chase away sand-dredging barges they accused of operating illegally around Koh Kapi island and damaging vital fishing grounds. ...

Authorities will not renew operating licenses for sand-dredging companies in Cambodia if impact studies on the industry are not completed by the time the licenses expire at year-end, a ministry official said Friday. ...

Officials backed by a small detachment of gendarmerie seconded from the National Military Police are preparing for potentially violent confrontations with security forces employed by illegal mining companies, an official said yesterday. Meng Saktheara, a secretary of state at the Ministry of Mines and Energy, yesterday ...

The Ministry of Mines and Energy is in the early stages of developing a national oil company, a ministry spokesman said Wednesday. Meng Saktheara, who is also a secretary of state, said his ministry had been working with the Finance Ministry to assess the risks of ...

In the shadow of Anlong Mountain in Preah Vihear province, the whir of engines pierces the tranquil scrubland. Here, in the midday heat, a group of workers scour the earth for traces of gold. A licence granted to Malaysian gold miner Delcom, which first began ...

Four mining companies digging stone in Banteay Meanchey province that are purportedly owned by a military commander and other officers have carried on mining despite a government ban. ...

Thousands of locals and migrant workers are engaged in illegal mining in Ratanakkiri province, a senior official with the Ministry of Mines and Energy said yesterday. Having returned on Tuesday from an official inspection tour of the province, Meng Saktheara, a secretary of state at the ...

Inspired by Australian mining regulations, the Cambodian government is considering a raft of changes to the mineral resources mining law, including a rethink of the sector’s comparatively high tax rate. Citing discussions held with Western Australia state mining industry representatives last week, Meng Saktheara, secretary of ...

A mining delegation from Cambodia has left for a fact-finding tour of Australia in a bid to glean knowledge from one of the world’s largest minerals exploration countries. The trip is being coordinated by the International Mining for Development Centre of the Western Australia state government. The ...

It will be years before oil starts to be produced by energy giant Chevron’s offshore site in the Gulf of Thailand, a senior Cambodian official said yesterday. Meng Saktheara, secretary of state at the Ministry of Mines and Energy, said that negotiations over taxation have continued ...

Cambodia imported 1.31 billion tonnes of oil in the first 10 months of this year, a 2.2 per cent slide compared to 1.34 billion tonnes in the same period last year, according to data from the Ministry of Commerce. Industry experts said the drop did not ...

As the cost of imports rise, local producers could see an opportunity to increase their market share, but for most a lack of output and quality means potential is limited, industry observers said yesterday. Customs officers who had often undercut the official rate are now ...

Despite the fact that beverage consumption in Cambodia is on the rise, government statistics show that imports of alcohol and non-alcoholic products in the first half of 2013 have declined by 51 per cent year-on-year. The seemingly conflicting figures left some scratching their heads. Meng Saktheara, ...

Thailand-based Ratchaburi Electricity Generating Holding Pcl (RATCH) has “seriously assessed” investment possibility in neighbouring countries including Cambodia, a company statement said last Thursday. It said it had geared up for business expansion in domestic and international markets in the potential existing investment bases Laos and Australia, ...

The government wants to play a bigger role in helping local businesses remain competitive and, to this end, the Ministry of Industry, Mines and Energy (MIME) has launched a new award to recognise companies that have achieved high produc-tivity standards. Ten companies will be awarded in ...

The Kingdom imported 412,190 tonnes of petroleum in the first quarter of 2013, compared with 471,000 tonnes in the same period the previous year, a decline of 12 per cent, according to the Ministry of Commerce. A private sector representative said the drop does not mean ...

Bilateral trade between Cambodia and neighbouring Vietnam rose more than 10 per cent year-on-year in the first quarter of this year, data from the Vietnam Embassy in Phnom Penh showed. Officials said cross-border trade facilitation by both countries significantly contributed to the growth. But they said ...