Australian mining company Renaissance Minerals has produced its first gold in Cambodia’s Mondulkiri province, earning the Cambodia government $5.1 million in taxes, a senior government official said on Tuesday.
Ung Dipola, Director General of the Ministry of Mines and Energy’s General Department of Mineral Resources, said during a press conference at the office of the Council of Ministers that Renaissance Minerals has produced 232 pieces of gold – the equivalent to 3,543 kilograms – and earned the government $5.1 million.
Dipola said that another company, identified as Delcom, has also begun to mine for gold in Mondulkiri province for the first time, and has already found 20 kilograms of gold.
Delcom had planned to produce 340 kilograms of gold per year, earning the government $600,000 in taxes, Dipola said. He added that the ministry has given licenses to seven companies to mine gold in Cambodia.
Dipola said that gold mining is anarchic in Ratanakiri province, saying that some mining has been conducted without licenses.
The Ministry has organized four working groups to inspect the operation of mineral resources and has cracked down on anarchic gold mining activities in Chong Plas in Mondulkiri, Phnom Chi in Kampong Thom province, and Phnom Long in Preah Vihear province, said Ty Norin, Secretary of State of the Ministry of Mines and Energy at the press conference.
