"Chinese potash mining company expands excavation area in central Laos" 14 August 2023

A Chinese company that operates a potash mine in central Laos will extend its exploration and excavation operations to a further 48 square kilometers (18.6 square miles) in Khammouane province on land used by villagers to make a living.

Some of the villagers have complained that Sino-Agri International Potash Co., Ltd. did not compensate them fairly or pay them anything at all...

The company has completed a feasibility study on the extension and is waiting for Lao government officials to approve it..

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An affected villager in Nong Bok district told Radio Free Asia that the feasibility study indicated the expansion would encroach on land used by many Lao families, and that the company offered to pay them 30,000 kip (US$1.50) per square meter.

Some accepted, but others did not, and two or three villages were excluded from the project, he said...

To make matters worse, the government measured the land in 20-square-meter (215-square-foot) parcels but shortchanged the villagers by paying them only for 10-square-meter (108-square-foot) parcels, he said.

The mine company is now recruiting new laborers skilled in tunnel digging and welding for the expansion project, one worker told RFA...In recent months, some 1,000 Chinese workers have gone to the mine, prompting layoffs of Lao workers, many of whom have not been able to find jobs..

The Khammouane provincial government and the Lao Ministry of Labor and Social Welfare set up a committee to determine the negative impacts of the project...“Right now, the company is not digging yet, but it is building the infrastructure to the mine and the factory,” an official said.