SYNOPSIS

Bauxite Mining was the hinge that caused the environmental pollution to the surrounding areas of Kuantan, Pahang in the mid-2015 and this talk centres on the measures taken by the State and federal Governments to address the issue.

This talk begins with a background about the geology of the local area and legislation to administer the mining activities. Besides, touches on the bauxite mining activities starting in Kuantan in early 2014 and its robustness when bauxite prices went higher due to high demand from China, the prohibition of exports by Indonesia from January 2014 as well as the increased tariff of bauxite in India. Yet the bauxite mining activities has raised some issues such as the problem of dust, pollution to the river and ocean, road users’ safety and creating anxiety amongst the residents and others.

To address the issue of pollution, the Federal Government along with the State Government has imposed a moratorium on the mining and export of bauxite for 3 months from 15th January 2016 until 14 April 2016. This moratorium was extended for additional 3 months until 14 July 2016. It has been informed that the moratorium will be continued for a period of one month until August 2016.

Finally this talk touches on the steps taken by the Government to address the issue of bauxite mining and to prevent this incident from happening again in the future. Some of the steps taken are drafting legislation, procedures, mechanisms and guidelines for new and best in all the chain transfer of the management in the mining, transport, stockpile, port and export of bauxite.


BIODATA OF SPEAKER

Mr. Shahar Effendi bin Abdullah Azizi is the Deputy Director General (Corporate & Mineral Economics) Department of Minerals and Geoscience, Malaysia. He received his Bachelor of Science degree in the field of mining engineering from the University of Leeds, UK in 1984, He then returned to Malaysia where he served with the Department of Mines as an Inspector of Mines and ending up as the Director of Mines for Sabah and Sarawak Zone from 1995 to 1999. He is also a recipient of a Diplôme D'études Supérieures Spécialisées (or equivalent to a Masters degree) on mineral economics at the Paris School of Mines in France in 2000.

Throughout his career in the government service, he has contributed a lot in improving the mining and quarrying industry in Malaysia especially in drafting guidelines and regulations as well as formulation of policies including the National Mineral Policy 2. He had represented Malaysia in many international meetings such as the Mining Task Force under APEC, ASOMM under ASEAN as well as the Intergovernmental Forum on Mining, Minerals, Metals and Sustainable Development held in Geneva.