By Independent Mon News Agency – The Burmese authorities in Three Pagodas Pass (TPP) ordered the mining companies in TPP town to move the piles of antimony stones stacked near residents’ homes, after the residents reported their fear of poison from the antimony to the media on May 8th.
A businessman in TPP said that Myo Kyi, the township administrator, met all mining company owners at the Township Administration Office in TPP on May 8th, informing the owners that the order to move the antimony came from Naypyidaw.
Companies are to move the antimony stones outside TPP, about 2 kilometers from Taung Wine in Quarter 4, TPP Township.
Speaking to the Independent Mon News Agency (IMNA) on Friday, an official of Thu Za Na Pwint Company, echoed Myo Kyi, “They called us and told us to move the stones. And, they told us the order came from Napyidaw.
“We have already moved all the stones,” he said.
IMNA’s news report, on May 5th, which gave an account of residents fear of the toxic effects of the antimony piles near their homes. After the report, the Ministry of Mines in Naypyidaw ordered the mining companies in TPP to move these piles.
Nai Arkar, an editor for IMNA’s daily online Burmese version, said, “Our media has the duty to tell the truth to the people.
We will continue to serve the people from our work and we will report more on what the mining companies have done that affects the lives of the people.”
There are six mining companies in TPP; Aung Mye Co. Ltd., Thabyu Co. Ltd., Mya Pan Co. Ltd., Aung Shwe Co. Ltd., Narwarat Co. Ltd., and Thu Za Na Pwint mine antimony stones in the Karen National Liberation Army (KNLA)-controlled area at Brigade 6, which is about 30 kilometers from town.
Thabyu Co. Ltd is a mining company that is Thai-owned, while the rest are owned by Burmese businessmen in TPP.
The six mining companies received permission from the Ministry of Mines in Napyidaw, and from the KNLA, to mine in KNLA-controlled areas.
The companies started mining during the second week of March. The process involves drilling antimony from KNLA areas in the jungle, and then the transport of the antimony to TPP, and finally storing the stones in the community before being exported to Thailand.
The mining companies illegally smuggle antimony stones between the TPP Thai-Burma border crossing by bribing Burmese officials.
In 2005, residents of Taung Wine at Quarter 4 in TPP experienced health problems, including vomiting, headaches, and skin diseases, when poison leaked from an antimony factory into a pond the people used for water.
The factory where the leak occurred is called Thabyu Co. Ltd., and it has major mining investments in TPP. The Burmese authorities ordered the factory closed down following the leak.
