VietNamNet Bridge – The Ministry of Natural Resources and the Environment has discovered violations at all the eight titanium exploitation and processing sites in Binh Dinh province, imposing the fine of over 400 million dong on the enterprises.

The central province of Binh Dinh is witnessing the “titanium fever attack” with the large coastal area turning into a big site. People flock there to exploit titanium, cherishing the dream of getting rich with titanium ore exports. However, their insatiable greed has turned the beautiful area into a polluted land.

Radiation discovered in water

According to Vo Minh Thanh, Deputy Chief of the Binh Dinh provincial Department for Natural Resources and the Environment, the analyses of the air quality in the titanium exploited areas have shown that the index of toxic substances are 4.5-6.2 times higher than the national technical standards. The samples of the waste water taken from the sifting factory of the Binh Dinh Mineral Company, the zircon grinding workshop and the mining ditch of the Ban Mai Mineral Production and Trade showed the radioactivity far exceeding the allowed level.

Dr Vo Ngoc Anh, Deputy Director of the Binh Dinh provincial Science and Technology Department, who has carried out a research work on the radioactivity in the coastal area of Binh Dinh province, said that fine sifting workshops gather many refined ores containing radiation, therefore, the residents and workers in the workshops would be in the high danger of getting radioactive infection. At the wet sifting workshop, the main place of radioactive pollution is the ores enriched by 85-92 percent.

Therefore, Anh said, the residents in the titanium ore areas face the higher risk of contaminated with radioactivity than the people in other areas.

Meanwhile, the scientific research work by Professor Le Khanh Phon from the Mining and Geology University and his associates, one of the first scientific research works in Vietnam about the radioactivity contamination due to the titanium exploitation, showed that the workshops that sort out sand for titanium ores emit large amounts of mineral mixture, including monazite which generates radioactive ray at high intensity.

Scientists have also found out that the waste water from the mineral sifting process is being discharged directly to the sea without any treatment phase.

Local residents moaning about damaged environment

Over the last many years, local residents in the titanium rich land have been living together with the environment pollution. Titanium exploitation enterprises have been destroying the coastal preventive forests, making the running water sources exhausted.

In My Thanh commune of Phu My district, one of the localities with the highest titanium reserves of Binh Dinh, 10 businesses are digging the coast with tens of titanium rigs. Local residents in My Thanh and My Tho communes said that no aquatic species can survive in such a polluted environment. Le Van Ngan in My Tho commune said that there were once a lot aquatic species of clams, oysters, snails, crabs or fish, but they all have disappeared.

The Ministry of Natural resources and the Environment has pointed out that a lot of problems still exist in the verification and environment impact assessment in Binh Dinh province. Though the reports on the possible environmental impacts only provided cursory details, they still could get the approval from competent agencies. In many cases, enterprises still carry out the exploitation activities though they do not make the commitments to protect the environment as required by the laws.

Source: SGTT