Thai Binh declares 1,100 areas not available for mining hinh anh 1Illustrative image. (Photo: VNA)

Thai Binh (VNA) – The northern province of Thai Binh has recently declared more than 1,100 restricted areas that can no longer be mined, in a bid to control local mining activities.

The provincial People’s Committee issued a decision to prohibit mining in these areas, covering over 7,900 hectares, until 2025 in compliance with the Law on Minerals.

The restricted areas include waste treatment plants, waterworks, cultural and historical relics, tourist resorts, coastal protective forests, mangrove forests, lands for religious groups, and for security and defence purposes, roads, irrigation lands, lands under power lines, oil and petroleum depots, and thermoelectric plants.

The province also put temporary restrictions on 657 locations, 617 of which are nature reserves, cultural and historical relic sites and tourist hotspots, with the other 40 areas for defence purposes.

It released an urgent notice on April 11 to tighten control on sand exploitation in local rivers in which it asked communes and districts to end illegal sand mining.

The local authorities have licensed sand mining in 11 locations along Red River in Hung Ha, Vu Thu, Kien Xuong and Tien Hai districts, with mining only permitted between 6:00 am and 18:00 pm. The local People’s Committee also requested river sand mines to suspend operation from April 30-August 31 and during storms and floods. - VNA
VNA