Ensuring safety in mining

Thai Nguyen province currently has 61 mineral mines, of which 38 are operating, along with 37 processing plants. Along with that are a series of tailings reservoirs, many of which have a capacity of up to millions of cubic meters, posing a potential risk of insecurity if not regularly monitored and reinforced.

Anh Phuong Trade Development Investment Joint Stock Company reinforced the coal yard and treated sludge before the storm to ensure the environment.

Risk warning

Before each rainy and stormy season, Thai Nguyen province issues documents requiring businesses to lower lake water levels, reinforce dams, and develop incident response plans; at the same time, directs local authorities to arrange forces to be on duty 24/7.

Thanks to that, no major incidents have occurred in the area so far. However, risks are always lurking, especially in reservoirs that were built a long time ago, with outdated technology and unsynchronized drainage systems.

In fact, in September 2024, there was an incident of a sludge dam breaking at the Lead - Zinc Ore Processing Plant of Bac Kan Nonferrous Metals Company Limited (Ban Thi Commune, Cho Don District, now Yen Thinh Commune, Thai Nguyen Province). In just a short time, more than 30,000m³ of sludge spilled into rivers, streams and downstream areas, causing environmental pollution, directly affecting people's lives and production.

The company then collected and treated about 30,100m³ of sludge, and compensated 98% of affected households with a total cost of nearly 4 billion VND. In addition, the unit reinforced the dam body, lined it with waterproofing tarpaulin, reclaimed agricultural land buried in sludge, improved the surface drainage system and invested in automatic monitoring to prevent the incident from recurring.

Currently, the authorities are still continuing to clarify the cause of the incident, but the obvious lesson is still valuable as a warning that we must absolutely not ignore the "waste sludge bombs" in the area.

Tighten management

To ensure reservoir safety, the Department of Industry and Trade has increased inspections and instructed 7 enterprises with reservoirs and mine waste dumps to develop plans to prevent and combat natural disasters before the rainy and stormy season.

According to provincial regulations, enterprises must develop plans to respond to environmental incidents, organize regular drills, reinforce dams and install monitoring systems. Local authorities are responsible for monitoring and promptly reporting any unusual signs; while relevant departments and branches conduct regular inspections and resolutely suspend operations of violating units.

Kim Ngan Company Limited reinforces the dike of the tailings reservoir and the tailings transportation road.

Comrade Pham Van Tho, member of the Provincial Party Standing Committee, Director of the Department of Industry and Trade, emphasized: Ensuring the safety of tailings reservoirs is always a key task. Implementing the direction of the Provincial People's Committee, the Department of Industry and Trade has established inspection teams and issued documents urging enterprises to focus on three groups of tasks: inspecting and reinforcing dams and waste dumps; strengthening monitoring of slopes at risk of landslides; reviewing electrical systems and pumps, and preparing on-site response plans.

Notably, along with the tightening of management by the authorities, mineral exploitation and processing enterprises themselves have also made a clear change in awareness and action. Many units consider ensuring reservoir safety as a top priority, proactively investing, reinforcing and building incident response plans.

Mr. Cong Minh Tien, Director of Hoang Nam Co., Ltd., Cho Don said: The company is managing 2 lakes, we always consider the safety of the reservoir and the surrounding environment as the top priority. The company has reinforced, compacted, cut the dam body layers, strengthened the drainage system, installed 24/24 monitoring equipment; arranged rescue forces and built an incident response plan.

In particular, before each rainy season, units must review and strengthen dams and prepare emergency plans according to the province's instructions. The good news is that many businesses do not wait for the directive to be issued, but have proactively implemented it early.

To ensure reservoir safety in line with sustainable development goals, Thai Nguyen persistently implements four orientations: applying digital technology in reservoir monitoring; innovating selection technology to reduce sludge volume and recover minerals; linking corporate responsibility with the community through propaganda, drills, and monitoring; eliminating projects that do not meet environmental requirements, and resolutely not trading the environment for economic gain.

Source: https://baothainguyen.vn/tai-nguyen-moi-truong/202509/dam-bao-an-toan-trong-khai-khoang-14a294d/