"Rare earth miner to compensate Lao villagers for polluting river water" 20 May 2024

Water polluted by a Chinese-backed rare earth mining operation in northeastern Laos is now safe to use and company representatives have agreed to meet with affected residents to discuss compensation, according to officials...

On Feb. 22, a mining operation in Houaphanh’s Xam Neua district run by Laos-China Rare Mineral Development Company North 2 Ltd. discharged polluted water into two area rivers, causing a large fish kill and damaging the ecosystem in 36 villages...On March 4, villagers wrote a letter calling on the People’s Council of Houaphanh Province to deal with the pollution as soon as possible...

Last week – more than two months after the incident – district, provincial, and central government officials and company representatives met with affected villagers to “guarantee” that the river water is now “safe and good for growing rice,” said a Xam Neua official... “In addition, [environmental] officials also collected water from four or five more spots to test it again to make sure that the water is really safe,” he told RFA Lao...Laos-China Rare Mineral Development Company North 2 Ltd. vowed to prevent another discharge of chemicals at last week’s meeting, the official said...

“With regard to damage, the company is asking the affected villagers to gather information about the pollution’s impact on their property and company representatives will meet with the villagers on May 20 to discuss compensation,” he said... villagers from Xam Neua told RFA they are glad Laos-China Rare Mineral Development Company North 2 Ltd. is taking responsibility for polluting the water supply...