Gold exploitation companies, both Vietnamese owned and foreign invested, are bogged down in big debts, but gold trading companies are making fat profits.

After exploiting tons of gold, the foreign investor in the Bong Mieu mine has fled without rehabilitating the site as required, leaving unpaid debts worth trillions of dong.

VietNamNet Bridge - Can the Mineral Law protect natural resources?

VietNamNet Bridge - Concerns have been raised about the acquisition of Phuoc Son and Bong Mieu gold mining companies, especially as the two investors taking over the bankrupt businesses are familiar names.

The two gold mining plants of Bong Mieu and Phuoc Son have to pay nearly VND400 billion (nearly $19 million) of tax debts before being licensed to export gold, said a Government official at a government press conference last week.

VietNamNet Bridge - Though having not paid VND400 billion in tax, the two gold mining companies run by Besra Group in Quang Nam province may still be allowed to export nearly 400 kilos of gold.

Provincial authorities have not been able to revoke the investment certificate granted to the Canadian gold miner Besra because of administrative procedures.

 VietNamNet Bridge – The Quang Nam provincial People’s Council’s members have suggesting closing two gold mines in Bong Mieu and Phuoc Son to protect the area’s natural resources.

Vietnam lost more than it gained after opening its Phuoc Son and Bong Mieu gold mines to a Canadian exploiter. Seven tons of gold were exploited, but the forests are now gone. Only the excavated land and polluted environment remain.

 VietNamNet Bridge – The Finance Ministry wants the two largest gold factories – Bong Mieu and Phuoc Son in the central province of Quang Nam - to resume operation. However, local tax authorities have not agreed.

 VietNamNet Bridge – Besra Group, the gold mining company operating at the Phuoc Son and Bong Mieu mines, will have its investment license revoked if it violates the law, Vietnamese economists have said.

 VietNamNet Bridge – In a four-year period, from 2008 to 2012, over 4.4 tons of gold were exploited from Bong Mieu and Dak Sa, the two biggest gold mines in Vietnam. However, the state has not received sufficient taxes from the gold exporters.

 VietNamNet Bridge - After Bersa Vietnam suspended operations on July 23 at the Phuoc Son and Bong Mieu mine sites in the central province of Quang Nam, illegal gold mining has increased at the sites.

 VietNamNet Bridge - The Besra Vietnam Group accused over 100 local people of breaking in its gold factory to rob assets, but the local government and residents have strongly opposed the accusation.

 Besra Company on July 23 announced that they have suspended operations at Phuoc Son and Bong Mieu mine sites in the central province of Quang Nam after their bank accounts were blocked by the province’s Tax Department for delaying tax payment.

 VietNamNet Bridge – The Tax Bureau of the central province of Quang Nam has decided to take coercive methods to collect taxes from the two biggest gold mining firms in Vietnam, Phuoc Son and Bong Mieu.

 VietNamNet Bridge – Officials of the Bong Mieu gold mining company and Phuoc Son Gold Company said that they had asked the customs office to reconsider the export tax of nearly VND250 billion ($12 million).