"Lao Villagers Wait For New Homes as Work Proceeds on Chinese Gold Mine", 18 November 2020

Twenty-four Lao families in a village in Oudomxay province are still waiting for new homes as digging proceeds on land taken from them four years ago by a Chinese gold mine concession, sources in the province say.

The residents of Tong Village in the province’s Pakbeng district have now scattered, with a few still clinging to their old homes while they wait to be resettled, one villager told RFA’s Lao Service on Tuesday. [...]

China’s Lao-Xinlong mining company, which operates the concession, is set to build two-story houses for the displaced families, the source said. [...]

Also speaking to RFA, a Pakbeng district official said that the Chinese mining company is still building houses for the residents displaced from Tong village, with completion of the work expected by the Lunar New Year or April at the latest.

China’s Lao-Xinlong company has pledged 15 billion kip (U.S. $1,619,877) toward construction of the new homes for Tong village and the new infrastructure for the villages not required to move, but amounts to be paid by the company and Oudomxay province in compensation for land have not been yet been set, the official said. [...]