“Sweat” on the cliffs

Climbing mountains, chiseling rocks, “eating” … dust

In the middle of summer in June in Ha Tan commune, Ha Trung district ( Thanh Hoa ), the blazing sun covered the land with the top reserves and quality of stone in Thanh Hoa. It seemed that at the stone quarries, the heat became even more intense and harsh. The sweltering heat of approximately 40 degrees Celsius along with the characteristic harsh sounds of drilling machines into the cliffs, the sound of breaking rocks, the "rumbling" sound of excavators and crushers made us all feel bored and frown.

Quarry workers are guaranteed labor rights.

Yet behind the heat and noise, groups of workers were quietly doing their work. Mr. Pham Van Duong, an experienced mine manager, took us to the field and witnessed the difficulties of the workers at the Ha Tan stone quarry.

Mr. Pham Van Duong was born and attached to Ha Tan land since childhood, he was originally a blasting worker, engaged in the profession of "stone cutter" since his twenties, "selling" his youth to the mountains, sweating on every cubic meter of stone. After more than 20 years of being attached to the profession, he understood the hardships of the workers, witnessed many accidents, there were cases of death, life-threatening, leaving behind disabilities, but there were also people who, thanks to this profession, stabilized their family's economy , escaped poverty and instability.

“Among the transport, excavator, and crushing station workers, the blasting workers are the hardest-working and most dangerous. That’s why rock drilling is often paid high salaries to attract workers, but not everyone can stay in this profession because it is harsh and even too dangerous. Depending on the company, the average salary of a driller is around 600,000-1,000,000 VND/day, while the salary of other workers is only 300,000-400,000 VND,” said Mr. Duong.

Stone mining and processing workers face many hardships and dangers.

As he spoke, he showed us his dark, sunburned arms. His rough hands, covered with old scars, were a testament to the hardships and harshness of the profession of climbing cliffs, chiseling rocks, and "eating" dust. Mr. Duong recounted: In the early 2000s, the state did not have strict management of minerals, and stone mining in Ha Tan was generally spontaneous, everyone did it for themselves. Every family with a machine, tools, and workers would climb the cliffs and chisel, and each block of rock they found would be transported back for processing. The machines had small capacity, so the profit was not much, and the workers were all non-professionals, wearing only a pith helmet as protective gear, and were shirtless and barefoot, which was extremely dangerous. Therefore, at that time, work accidents occurred continuously, and many people who were the main laborers and breadwinners of their families suffered from disabilities and lost their ability to work, making poverty even more difficult.

Mineral Law – the key to poverty escape for workers

Ha Tan is a commune with limestone resources, concentrated in the Quan Tuong mountain area and Da Chan hill in the territory of Quan Tuong and Nam Thon villages, with an area of 79.5 hectares. In this area, there are currently 15 mines, of which 9 mines exploit limestone for common construction materials and 6 mines of spilite (basalt) block stone for producing paving stones, with 13 licensed enterprises.

Ha Tan commune, Ha Trung district (Thanh Hoa) is a locality with many stone quarries.

Mr. Truong Van Huan, Chairman of the People's Committee of Ha Tan Commune, said: Since the Law on Minerals was applied and put into practice, the situation of spontaneous stone mining in Ha Tan Commune has disappeared. Stone mining enterprises, before being licensed by the People's Committee of Thanh Hoa Province, had their capacity assessed by the Department, branches, and localities, and strictly complied with the provisions of the Law on Minerals. Adhering to the Law on Minerals helps enterprises achieve high efficiency in production, processing, environmental protection, sustainable economic development, avoiding insecurity and disorder, while workers have a more stable source of income, reducing the rate of poor households, and improving social security in the locality.

In fact, the 2010 Mineral Law, which came into effect in July 2011, has clearly demonstrated new "breakthrough" viewpoints that fundamentally change the work of protecting, managing, exploiting and using national mineral resources in Ha Tan commune in particular. The management of mineral activities in the locality has achieved remarkable results, overcoming the situation of fragmented and widespread licensing in the locality; limiting environmental pollution in mineral activities; increasing the source of funding to the state budget through the work of calculating fees for granting mineral exploitation rights, auctioning mineral exploitation rights, and using data and information on mineral geology.

The application of the Mineral Law contributes to improving the economy of workers.

Since then, many enterprises with financial capacity, technology, enthusiasm and methodical investment have been licensed by Thanh Hoa Provincial People's Committee to exploit minerals in Ha Tan commune, bringing many positive results, especially contributing to improving the quality of economic life for local people.

Mr. Pham Van Duong, Manager of the stone quarry, said: Since the Law on Minerals was applied by the State, workers at the mines have been able to work with peace of mind. Blasting is strictly managed by the State, most of the stone quarries have replaced blasting with modern wire cutting technology, mining according to design and regulations, making roads up the mountains, significantly reducing the possibility of work accidents. In addition, workers are taught labor safety regulations, equipped with standard labor protection equipment, and enjoy benefits in terms of salary, overtime pay, holidays, sick leave, allowances, social insurance, and health insurance. The workers are all local workers, guaranteed a fixed salary of an average of 7-8 million/month.

It can be seen that the application of the Law on Minerals in practice not only helps the state management of the mineral resources sector achieve clear results, overcome the situation of fragmented and widespread licensing in localities, limit environmental pollution, but also helps increase state budget revenue, increase income, significantly reduce occupational accidents due to stone mining, and ensure economic stability for thousands of local workers.

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