Press release | October 30, 2015

Despite plans by the Myanmar Ministry of Mines to investigate a controversial coal mining project in the remote Ban Chaung area of Dawei District, mining operations have resumed last week, after a four-month pause during the rainy season. Local villagers and civil society organizations are calling for companies to immediately halt all activities in the area until a full investigation takes place, and all parties collaborate to ensure compliance with Myanmar Law and international human rights standards – including completing a thorough and transparent Environmental and Social Impact Assessment (ESIA).

In Yangon today, three Dawei-based civil society organizations launched a new report, based on more than two years of research and community-engagement, condemning the destructive coal mine at Ban Chaung. The report, We Used to Fear Bullets, Now We Fear Bulldozers, documents the devastating impact that coal mining has had on the local environment, community health, traditional livelihoods, and unique indigenous way of life in this recent conflict-zone in Tanintharyi Region of Southern Myanmar, and also raises warning flags about how large-scale mining projects in Maynmar are permitted and regulated. It was published jointly by the Tarkapaw Youth Group, Dawei Development Association (DDA), and the Tenasserim River & Indigenous People Networks (TRIP NET).

The report reveals how Mayflower Mining Company used its high-level government connections to obtain permits for mining operations without disclosing detailed information or conducting an Environmental and Social Impact Assessment (ESIA) and without the Free Prior and Informed Consent (FPIC) of local villagers. It exposes a dubious partnership with two companies from Thailand: East Star Company and Thai Asset Company, who are illegally operating on the ground on behalf of Mayflower, without permission from the central government. It also uncovers links to prominent Energy Earth Company, which is traded publicly on the stock exchange of Thailand and is financing operations of the mining project.

East Star Company has operated a 60-acre open-pit coal mine at Khon Chaung Gyi village in Ban Chaung for more than three years, but plans to expand to 2,100 acres or more. Should it be allowed to expand, the project would severely damage the health and livelihoods of approximately 16,000 villagers in the area, most of whom belong to the Karen ethnic group, and rely on fishing and farming. Indeed, many villagers are already suffering from increased pollution of air and water resources and land confiscations, of once productive agricultural land. East Star Company has dumped mining waste directly into the streams, causing fish to die off and local people to fall sick with troubling skin diseases. Uncontrolled coal fires, spontaneously combusting in waste and storage piles, have caused breathing problems in the community.

This project is not only damaging to the environment in one of the most ecologically important regions of Myanmar, but it also threatens the entire way of life of the indigenous Karen people of Ban Chaung, who have had their land passed down to them for generations. Tarkapaw, DDA, and TRIP NET are calling for all parties to take urgent action and suspend mining activities until the situation can be properly investigated. “We are losing our natural resources to foreign companies who are taking advantage of the unstable political situation in our country,” said community leader Naw Pe The Law. “They are thieves.”

Download report (PDF) in English | in Burmese

 

Contact

English:               Naw Pe The Law, 09422207276

Ko Thant Zin, 09422190691

Burmese:            U Tin Oo, 09252030466

Email:                  banchaung.dawei@gmail.com

You may also like: