DOE: Possible 'technical error' in Perak rare earth mining confusion

The Department of Environment (DOE) confirmed that lanthanide mining in the Kenderong Forest Reserve in Hulu Perak has received the green light, despite protests by an environmental group over the project's potential ecological damage and danger to threatened wildlife species.

DOE director-general Wan Abdul Latiff Wan Jaafar (above) confirmed this when contacted today.

This contradicts the department's environmental impact assessment (EIA) portal which states that the project’s EIA report is "not approved".

"The DOE has approved the EIA report. Maybe there is a technical issue with the website. We will check," he said when contacted.

It is learnt that the EIA was approved on May 11 and the development will soon be updated in the DOE's system.

Yesterday, Perak Menteri Besar Saarani Mohamad announced the DOE approved the EIA for the rare earth mining last week, making it a potential new revenue stream for the state.

He said the "pilot project" will be on State Agriculture Development Corporation (SADC) land and the appointed company will be tasked to check if there is harmful radioactivity caused by the mining.

According to the EIA, the mining will be conducted through in-situ leaching - by constructing seven hydrometallurgical plants as well as establishing injection holes and piping systems.

The project covers 11 land parcels of 5,339 acres (2,161 ha) owned by Menteri Besar Incorporated Perak (MB Inc Perak), Majlis Daerah Gerik, Felcra Bhd, and SADC. This is equivalent to about 3,026 football fields.

Crucial link for threatened wildlife

In objecting to the project, Sahabat Alam Malaysia (SAM) said the project is located in a forested area which is part of the Central Forest Spine (CFS).

The CFS is a network of forests which act as corridors for protected wildlife to move from one part of the country to the other.

Part of the project is located in the Kenderong Forest Reserve and is part of a primary forest linkage, connecting the Kenderong Forest Reserve and the Bintang Hijau Forest Reserve, which are both in north Perak.

As such, the area is classified as an environmentally sensitive area, ranked 1, SAM said.

"The project will cause permanent habitat loss and total loss of salt licks for wildlife, which will lead to an increase in human-wildlife conflicts and illegal poaching," the environmental group said.

The EIA report displayed by the DOE states that the project area is home to 15 threatened species including the Malayan tiger, Asian elephant, sun bear and Malayan tapir.

The project sits 500m north of salt licks which are visited by elephants, tapirs, and sun bears.

It is estimated there are fewer than 150 Malayan tigers, about 3,100 wild elephants, fewer than 1,500 tapirs, and about 500 sunbears in the wild in Malaysia.

The EIA also states that no measures can totally mitigate the loss of habitat for these animals.

Leaching into groundwater

SAM also raised concerns over heavy metals leaching into groundwater from the mining activities.

It said the project is located upstream of Sungai Rui, which is a tributary of Sungai Perak.

"Therefore, any degradation of the surface water or groundwater resulting from the proposed mining could affect the whole or a very large portion of these watersheds and their ecosystems," SAM said.

The EIA states there is a risk of ammonium and sulphate contamination from the proposed mining, which could potentially affect Orang Asli living in Kampung Pong and Kampung Bukit Asu nearby.

"The proposed mining will have serious negative impacts and should not be allowed in the very first place in an environmentally sensitive area such as this," SAM said.

However, the assessment report notes that the potential impact on public health is "very minimal" if mitigation measures are in place.

This includes monitoring groundwater samples for heavy metals and radioactivity.

Mitigation measures for wildlife included building fences and trenches to avoid conflict with elephants, but there were no measures proposed to deal with the loss of habitat and potential loss of species.

Besides lanthanide, there is also a proposal for tin mining in the same area.

The EIA for the tin mining project is still under review.

The project covers 245 hectares (605 acres) of forested land degazetted from the Kenderong Forest Reserve, while the mining lease is owned by MB Inc Perak. - Mkini