Merotai assemblyperson Sarifuddin Hata has lodged a report with the MACC to call for a probe on gold mining activity in Bukit Mantri, Tawau.
Speaking to Sabah News Today, Sarifuddin said he lodged the report following instructions by the Sabah legislative assembly speaker Kadzim M Yahya recently.
Sarifuddin said the matter was of serious concern to the surrounding community who fear pollution and ground movement caused by mining activities.
"This government is allowing mining activities to take place without an environmental impact assessment report," he claimed.
Sarifuddin told the Sabah legislative assembly on Nov 29 that the Malaysian Mineral and Geoscience Department's approval for gold mining in Bukit Mantri had expired.
However, the assistant minister to the chief minister Abidin Madingkir told the state assembly that all regulatory conditions had been fulfilled while the renewal of a Mining Operation Scheme Approval Letter was still being deliberated.
According to a report by TV3 in 2020, the mining works in Bukit Mantri produced its first gold bar in 2018.
Satellite images revealed that the gold mine appeared sometime after 2018.
Bukit Mantri sits on an extinct volcano known as Mount Wullersdorf known for its crystals, gold, silver and copper deposits.
However, Mount Wullersdorf is a gazetted forest reserve that hosts highly endangered species such as the orangutan, Borneo pygmy elephant, Bornean gibbon, banteng and proboscis monkey, according to the Sabah government's Ulu Kalumpang-Wullersdorf Sustainable Forest Management Project annual report in 2018. - Mkini
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