The Cambodian environment ministry has penalised Indian-owned gold mining company Mesco Gold for polluting a stream in Ratanakkiri province. - Environment Ministry via PPP/ANN
PHNOM PENH: The Ministry of Environment has taken legal action against Indian-owned gold mining company Mesco Gold (Cambodia) Ltd, after identifying the company as the source of a polluted stream in Ratanakkiri province. In the same week, a Phnom Penh factory was found to be burning textile scraps and polluting the environment.
Last weekend, a ministry inspection team worked with local authorities to investigate pollution in the O Tray stream, located about 30 metres from Mesco Gol’s mining site in Peak village, Yatung commune, O’Yadav district. They determined that the mining operations were the source of the pollution.
“This stream connects to the O’Yadav stream. The company’s wastewater discharges lowered oxygen levels in the water, causing the death of many fish,” said an October 6 ministry statement.
The team collected five samples of wastewater and stream water for further laboratory analysis.
It has ordered the company to immediately halt all wastewater discharge, in any form, and warned the owners and managers that they will face administrative penalties, in line with the Environmental Protection and Natural Resource Law — Articles 156, 173, 287 and 694 — and Sub-Decree No. 27 on water pollution control.
Mesco Gold must pay compensation for the environmental damage and public health impacts it has caused, and improve its wastewater treatment systems to meet legal standards. In addition, it must ensure that all operations comply with its Environmental and Social Impact Assessment (EIA) report and pay into the Environmental and Social Fund, as well as the Environmental Remediation Fund.
The company was instructed to pump wastewater from sediment ponds into temporary storage ponds lined with black rubber sheets. If existing ponds are insufficient, new ponds must be dug for additional storage.
It must also repair leaks, set up containment systems to stop wastewater from escaping and ensure runoff from ore processing areas does not mix with rainwater drainage.
In a separate case, the ministry also found that the Jin Yuan Xi Garment Co., Ltd. garment factory, located in Phnom Penh’s Trapaing Thloeng 2 village, Chaom Chao I commune, Por Senchey district, violated environmental laws by burning textile scraps inside its compound.
This caused air pollution, and the company failed to comply with its environmental protection contract.
The ministry has banned the company from burning textile scraps in steam boilers under any circumstances.
The business will now face administrative penalties under Articles 156 and 694 of the Environmental and Natural Resource Law. It is also required to compensate for environmental damages and to ensure its steam boilers are fitted with smoke filtration systems on a permanent basis.
The ministry expressed gratitude to the citizens and journalists who provided information about these cases, stating that such public participation strengthens environmental enforcement.
The ministry highlighted that these joint efforts contribute to making Cambodia clean — on land, in water and in the air — while also advancing environmental management and improving public health, in line with the policies and strategies of the Royal Government. - The Phnom Penh Post/ANN
