Committee Chairman for Communications, Multimedia and NGOs Mohd Azlan Helmi Helmi at the Fourth Meeting, First Year of the 15th Perak State Assembly at Bangunan Perak Darul Ridzuan.

IPOH, 26 September 2023 - The Perak State Government is making efforts to increase revenue through the mining sector but will not disregard environmental sustainability.

Perak Menteri Besar Dato' Seri Saarani Mohamad said this when answering oral questions at the Fourth Meeting, First Year of the 15th Perak State Assembly Sitting at Bangunan Perak Darul Ridzuan.

"The assessment for the opening of new areas for the mining of non-radioactive rare earth elements (NR-REE) is dependent on an independent body via the Audit Committee formed for the purpose of monitoring the implementation of pilot mining projects in Perak.

"It involves 12 technical enforcement agencies comprising the Perak Department of Minerals and Geosciences (JMG), State Economic Planning Unit (UPEN), Perak Land and Mines Office (PTG), Perak Department of Environment (JAS), Department of Atomic Energy (AELB) and Perak Town and Country Planning Department (JPBD)," he explained.

He added that mining and operations are only allowed after all approvals such as the Malaysian Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) report and Environmental Management Plan (EMP) from the Environment Department, approval letter for Mining Management Scheme from JMG Perak, approval of planning permission from the local authority (PBT) ), approval of Social Impact Assessment Study (SIA) from PlanMalaysia@Perak, and approval of Erosion Sediment Control Plan (ESCP) Report from the Perak Irrigation and Drainage Department (JPS) were obtained first.

"For additional studies on the impact of mining on trees, a special meeting conducted by the Ministry of Natural Resources, Environment and Climate Change (NRECC) together with JMG Perak and the project promoters has decided that the leaseholders involved need to carry out tree growth and soil fertility studies at ​​the pilot project site and submit the report to NRECC before any mining is carried out," he said during the sitting.

Source : Corporate, SUK Perak.