Top court to review mine licence case

Top court to review mine licence case

Local residents in Udon Thani opposed to a proposed potash mine celebrated yesterday after the Supreme Administrative Court agreed to review their petition which claims moves being made to obtain a mining licence are illegal.

Their hopes of seeing the mine project scrapped were dampened when the Administrative Court threw out their original petition on May 9, 2012.

The villagers from Muang and Prachak Silapakom districts have been fighting against mining firm Asia Pacific Potash Corporation (APPC) for many years.

They say a potash mine would cause severe health and environmental problems and remove their land rights.

If a licence is approved, villagers say the project will affect five communities in the two districts. Potash or potassium is a key ingredient in making fertiliser.

In their petition submitted the Supreme Administrative Court, the villagers accused the Department of Primary Industries and Mines, the provincial mining office and local leaders in the two districts of misconducts, citing a lack of due process in APPC's application for the mining concession.

They claimed four reports involving public hearings on the project contained false information.

The villagers led by Tiang Tham-in, 56, and Manee Boonrod, 67, attended yesterday's hearing. Several of them "danced" out of the courtroom after hearing the decision.

Villagers sought court intervention because the authorities ignored their protests and took sides with the mining company, Ms Manee said.

According to Ms Manee, provincial authorities had promised to put the application on hold but this is not the case.

On July 25 it was announced a committee would be established to administer a fund for an environment and health impact assessment (EHIA) study, she said.

"We feel like we are being fooled. We saw an announcement that they would select two people from each village to sit on the committee in question," she said.

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