News
Rice competitiveness a worry
The executive committee of the Cambodia Rice Federation (CRF) will meet with two ministries today to explore the possibility of reducing the logistical and energy costs of transporting rice, a key factor to keeping Cambodian rice exports competitive compared to neighbouring countries, a CRF official ...
Chan Muyhong
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/business/rice-competitiveness-worry
Energy Ministry to decentralise licensing miners
The Ministry of Mines and Energy has decided to decentralise the process for small-scale miners and dredgers to obtain licences, with the government now permitting provincial authorities to directly issue licences to operators without ministerial oversight. Speaking at a meeting on the new measures, Dith Tina, ...
Taing Vida and Ethan Harfenist
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/energy-ministry-decentralise-licensing-miners
Oil deal before petroleum law
Singaporean energy firm KrisEnergy and the Cambodian government will conclude their long-drawn negotiations for extraction of oil from offshore oil field Block A before the passage of an upcoming law for the petroleum sector. The petroleum law, which will be the country’s first legislation governing ...
Charles Rollet
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/business/oil-deal-petroleum-law
Dredgers ‘pledge’ to wait on gov’t
The Ministry of Mines and Energy has said that it will perform environmental, social and economic impact assessments within three to six months before renewing and granting new licences for sand dredgers and sand miners operating in Phnom Penh and Kandal. ...
Taing Vida
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/dredgers-pledge-wait-govt
Campaign launch: New ‘River Guard’ busts dredgers
Inspectors from the Energy Ministry busted two unlicensed sand dredgers operating on a stretch of river close to Phnom Penh’s Royal Palace, in the first action of a new campaign to protect Cambodia’s rivers. ...
Taing Vida
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/campaign-launch-new-river-guard-busts-dredgers
New gas safety rules
As part of a new safety initiative, the Ministry of Mines and Energy will require all petrol station owners to present a certificate acknowledging that their businesses follow risk-prevention protocols. The directive came in response to a series of petrol fires and explosions that damaged property ...
Pech Sotheary
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/new-gas-safety-rules
Gov’t prepares for mine standoff
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 ...
Daniel Pye
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/govt-prepares-mine-standoff
Self-sufficiency in 3 years: minister
Cambodia’s energy minister promised lawmakers from the National Assembly’s public works and energy commission yesterday that the country will be weaned off of foreign electricity imports within three years, the commission’s vice chairman said in a press conference after the meeting. According to Mao Monyvann, a ...
Pech Sotheary
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/self-sufficiency-3-years-minister
Mining prospects ranked low
An index measuring countries on their attractiveness for mining investment has included Cambodia in its results for the first time, with the Kingdom ranking a relatively low 81 out of 122 due to a lack of obvious sites to exploit. The “attractiveness index”, conducted by the ...
Charles Rollet
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/mining-prospects-ranked-low
Military police to join in mining crackdown
More than 600 military police will be sent as reinforcements all over Cambodia today to aid the National Police, Ministry of Mines and Energy authorities and court officials as they inspect and crack down on illegal mining in the Kingdom. ...
Taing Vida
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/military-police-join-mining-crackdown
Dreams not panning out
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 ...
May Titthara and Alice Cuddy
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/dreams-not-panning-out
Petrol firms told to open books
Cambodia’s petrol retailers have been ordered by the government to hand over import information and financial records in what looks to be the first steps toward installing fuel-price legislation. The Ministry of Mines and Energy (MME) announced publicly yesterday via state-owned media Agence Kampuchea Presse (AKP) ...
Eddie Morton
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/business/petrol-firms-told-open-books
Kandal villagers burn tyres to fight dredging
Nearly a hundred villagers living along a river located in Sa’ang district’s Koh Anlong Chin commune in Kandal province recently protested against the plans of one company to dredge sand in the area. On Sunday, employees of sand-dredging company Sok Teang Import Export, which has been ...
Sen David
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/kandal-villagers-burn-tyres-fight-dredging
Mining firms still working despite ban
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. ...
Phak Seangly
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/mining-firms-still-working-despite-ban
No licences, much dredging
Five sand-dredging operations in Ratanakkiri province – one owned by the provincial director of Public Works and Transportation – have been in business illegally for some 20 years, the rights group Adhoc said yesterday. Adhoc said that it uncovered the operations in Veun Say, Lumphat and ...
Phak Seangly
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/no-licences-much-dredging
Ratanakkiri site of informal mining boom: official
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 ...
Phak Seangly
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/ratanakkiri-site-informal-mining-boom-official
Excavation worries
Twenty families living in Stung Treng province’s Thala Barivat district have recently filed complaints to authorities demanding compensation from a Chinese firm, which allegedly plans to excavate their farmlands in search of marble. The villagers from the Chamkar Leu commune sent a total of seven complaints ...
Sen David and Sarah Taguiam
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/excavation-worries
Angkor Gold announces next step forward for Cambodia's first commercial gold mine
ANGKOR GOLD CORP. (ANK) (“ANGKOR” or “ANGKOR GOLD”) announces that approval from Cambodia’s Ministry of Mines and Energy has been received to proceed with an Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) on Cambodia’s first royalty-generating gold mine at Phum Syarung. The total area of 12 sq km ...
Market Watch News Staff
http://www.marketwatch.com/story/angkor-gold-announces-next-step-forward-for-cambodias-first-commercial-gold-mine-2014-12-03?reflink=MW_news_stmp
Cambodia plans to open up bidding on 19 petroleum concessions
Cambodia plans to open bids for concessions on 19 onshore oil and gas exploration blocks to promote investment in the sector, a senior official at the country’s Ministry of Mines and Energy said on Wednesday. The Southeast Asian country is also keen to talk with international ...
Khettiya Jittapong
http://af.reuters.com/article/energyOilNews/idAFL4N0SV4F120141105
Mining official denies graft
Officials from the Ministry of Mines and Energy checked on a quarry in Kampot province for the second time yesterday amid allegations it is operating illegally thanks to local corruption. The quarry, which is owned by husband and wife Hok Chhenda and Tep Sokha, was ...
Sen David
http://www.phnompenhpost.com/national/mining-official-denies-graft
Meeting suggests dam project moving ahead
Despite reports that Prime Minister Hun Sen recently offered assurances that construction of the controversial Stung Cheay Areng hydropower dam would not be allowed to begin in the near future, local officials are allegedly pushing forward with plans to relocate villagers. Multiple provincial, district and village ...
Alice Cuddy and May Titthara
http://phnompenhpost.com/national/meeting-suggests-dam-project-moving-ahead
Cambodian river sand turns up in India—again
Nearly 80,000 tons of Cambodian river sand has been sitting at a seaport in India for nearly two months, the second haul to turn up there in two years, despite a 2009 ban on the export of river sand handed down by Prime Minister Hun ...
Chris Mueller and Ouch Sony
http://www.cambodiadaily.com/business/cambodian-river-sand-turns-up-in-india-again-70164/
Cambodia defends plan for Chhay Areng River hydroelectric dam development
Cambodia on Tuesday defended its plan to build the 108-megawatt Chhay Areng River hydropower plant in a jungle in southwestern Koh Kong province, saying the project would greatly contribute to developing the energy sector. “An initial study found that the project has a capacity of 108 ...
Global Post News Staff
http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/news/xinhua-news-agency/140930/cambodia-defends-plan-chhay-areng-river-hydroelectric-dam-de
Energy Minister plays down Areng concerns
Minister of Mines and Energy Suy Sem has issued a letter to the National Assembly commission on the environment, offering assurances that the planned Stung Cheay Areng Hydropower Dam will meet high environmental and social standards. Opposition Cambodia National Rescue Party member Te Chanmony on September ...
May Titthara
http://phnompenhpost.com/national/energy-minister-plays-down-areng-concerns