KUANTAN – The Pahang government has not issued any mining lease (ML) for lanthanide rare earth in Jelai, Lipis, said Menteri Besar Datuk Seri Wan Rosdy Wan Ismail.
He said the allegation that was viralled on social media about the state government having approved a mining project for the purpose was untrue.
He said there are procedures to be complied with before such a mining lease can be approved.
“The application will be processed by the Land and Mines Office and there will be a requirement for a technical report. There are two things that must be complied with, namely the Environmental Impact Assessment Study and the Operational Mining Scheme before the mining lease can be approved,” he said at the state assembly sitting today.
Wan Rosdy was responding to a supplementary question from Young Syefura Othman of (DAP-Ketari) on the number of mining licenses issued in Tasik Chini, Pekan.
In another development, Wan Rosdy said the State Enforcement Unit, established on Nov 1, 2019, had received 192 complaints for various offences under the National Land Code 1965, Minerals Enactment 2001, National Forestry Act 1984 and Water Resources Enactment 2007.
Most of the complaints concerned illegal occupation of state land and encroachment into forest reserve areas, he said, adding that action had been taken on 142 of the complaints.
Meanwhile, Pahang Tourism, Culture, Environment, Plantation and Commodities Committee chairman Datuk Seri Mohd Sharkar Shamsuddin, to another question from Young Syefura, said the state government had on May 17 this year issued an order for all mining activities to stop in Tasik Chini.
He also said improvements were made at the Tasik Chini Biosphere Reserve site as requested by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (Unesco).
They included increasing reserve site to 9,147.18 hectares and to gazette a 7,100.5-hectare site in the area as the Chini Permanent Forest Reserve, he added. – Bernama, August 24, 2021
