Fool’s Gold: Understanding Social, Economic and Environmental Impacts from Gold Mining in Quang Nam Province, Vietnam

Abstract

Extractive industries are often claimed to contribute to both poverty reduction and economic growth. Yet, there is also a body of research that suggests natural resource dependence can result in limited development, environmental degradation and social upheaval. This paper examines differences in the socioeconomic and environmental state of mining and non-mining communities in rural Vietnam in order to understand the extent to which mining contributes to livelihood development and socioeconomic well-being. In particular, we examine the role that "corporate social responsibility" (CSR) plays in supporting community development in Phuoc Son and Phu Ninh districts, Quang Nam province. Content analysis of newspapers, government documents and mining company reports provided a contextual overview of mining operations and community relations in each study area. Semi-structured interviews were used to collect information from local and regional stakeholders to further understand perceived impacts of mining operations on local communities. Our study finds that in comparison to non-mining communities, communities with active mines demonstrated increased job development, decreased poverty rates, enhanced infrastructure and social development along with increased incidences of CSR initiatives. However, a number of adverse effects from mining activities were reported including environmental degradation (e.g., deforestation, water pollution, etc.) increased criminal activity and drug addiction. Dependence on mine-related employment in local communities becomes acutely apparent when temporary mine closures result in widespread unemployment. Local governments may be the greatest beneficiaries of mining with increased tax revenues and enhanced management potential of leased land. Non-mining communities without direct benefits from mining activities maintained economic diversity and were therefore more resilient to economic shocks such as nearby mine closures.

National benefits, local costs? Local residents' views on environmental and social effects of large‐scale mining in Chingola, Zambia

“…Similar CSR initiatives were reported by Nguyen et al . () who noted that in the Quang Nam province of Vietnam, locals perceived enhanced infrastructure as some of the positive impacts of mining. Other benefits included increased tax revenue for the local government and decreased poverty rates.…”

“…Nguyen et al . () cited mining induced environmental degradation in the form of water pollution and deforestation as the most commonly perceived adverse effect of mining in Vietnam.…”

The Regulatory Framework and Minerals Development in Vietnam: An Assessment of Challenges and Reform

“…To examine the policy implications of Vietnam's national regulatory reform, this paper draws on earlier work in the Quang Nam Province (see [36]) and in particular two gold mines operated by the Canadian firm Besra; Phuoc Son mine, located in Phuoc Duc commune, Phuoc Son district in the western highlands of Quang Nam province, and the Bong Mieu mine, located in Tam Lanh Commune, Phu Ninh district in the southeast corner of Quang Nam province. Gold extraction in the Phuoc Son and Bong Mieu regions has a long history.…”

“…The last decade has brought forth substantial reform to Vietnam's mining regulations resulting in a number criticisms, including rising levels of taxation [34] and disregard for the needs of local communities [35]. Although the nation's mining sector is regulated by the central government, natural resource taxes and revenues from mining related businesses provided significant contributions to regional government budgets [36]. The text that follows presents an analysis of the extent to which Vietnam's current regulatory reform reflects a MMc and how these regulations have been applied, violated and enforced.…”

Reassignment-proof rules for land rental problems

“…Examples include Mexico (Tetreault, 2015), Peru (Arellano-Yanguas, 2011;Fraser, 2018), Sierra Leone (Akiwumi, 2014), India (Sarkar, 2015(Sarkar, , 2017, Vietnam (Nguyen et al, 2018) and Indonesia (Welker, 2009). Another examples appear in Sosa (2011) and Walter and Urkidi (2015).…”