"China-owned gold mine in Laos ordered to temporarily close" 6 October 2022

Lao authorities have ordered a China-owned gold mine in the country’s northwestern Oudomxay province to suspend operations pending an inquiry into a series of accidents causing death and injury to miners, Lao sources say.

Located in the province’s Pak Beng district, the mine will be permanently closed if its owner, China’s Lao Zin Long company, continues to ignore regulations governing worker safety, the Lao Ministry of Mines and Power said in its Sept. 22 order.

Lao mine workers speaking to RFA said that accidents have occurred there in the past, with many workers injured or killed by landslides or falling rocks. “Casualty figures have been kept secret by company officials, though,” one worker said, speaking on condition of anonymity for security reasons.

Another worker said that most accidents occur when miners dig for gold. “This is mostly due to landslides during the rainy season,” the worker said, also declining to be named. [...]

Accidents go unreported

Reached for comment, officials at Oudomxay province’s Department of Mines and Power declined to discuss the issue, referring questions to central government authorities in the capital Vientiane.

But one department official speaking anonymously said that managers at the mine never made reports of accidents directly to his office. “Therefore, we don’t know whether the company paid compensation to the victim or not." [...]

Work meanwhile continues at the mine despite the government’s order suspending operations, said a Lao woman who works at the mine as a translator. “No, nothing has stopped. Work is going on here as usual,” she said. [...]