Terengganu Menteri Besar Ahmad Razif Abdul Rahman today denied claims that a Chinese company, CAA Resources, had been allowed to mine iron ore in Bukit Besi, Dungun.

He said the claim that CAA Resources had re activated the mine early this year and had produced 500,000 tonnes of iron ore was totally untrue.

The Terengganu state government had never given any approval to the company to re open the mining area, and Companies Commission of Malaysia records showed that the company had not been incorporated, he said.

“The company has never dealt with any government department including the Land and Mineral director’s office or State Heritage Trust Fund Board (LTAW) which have jurisdiction over the mining areas in Bukit Besi.

“The claim that no environmental impact assessment (EIA) was carried out on the area is also untrue because for a company to carry out mining activities, 38 conditions must be fulfilled, under the Terengganu Mineral Enactment 2002.

“Six government departments, Environment; Drainage and Irrigation; Mineral and Geoscience; State Forestry; Water; and Pusat Tahfiz Gemilang (PTG) are responsible in ensuring that the conditions are met,” Razif ( left ) told reporters in Kuala Terengganu.

He had called a special media conference today to refute the claims in an article titled, ‘Chinese Interests Look To Malaysia For Cheap Iron Ore And Profits’, by Keith Bradsher, published by the New York Times on Friday.

Present at the conference were state legal adviser Azhar Abdul Hamid and state PTG director Mohamad Nor Ibrahim.    

Ahmad Razif said the article was translated into Malay and picked up by blogs, which spun their own analysis, some tantamount to defamation.

He urged the ‘analysts’ to stop spinning defamatory statements and warned that the state government would not hesitate to take legal action against those responsible.

According to PTG’s records, 571,282.35 tonnes of iron ore were mined last year by six companies and 327,724.16 tonnes this year, by five companies.

He said the state government received RM1.6 million or five percent royalty between August last year and today, and RM30 for every tonne, through the LTAW.

“The state government used to allow mining companies to export the raw material but effective last April, a new policy was introduced, where mining companies in Terengganu are required to process the raw material in the state.

“Currently, only Perwaja Steel Sdn Bhd has its own factory while another factory owned by Eastern Steel Sdn Bhd (in Kemaman) is 80 percent completed,” he said.

There are seven mining areas, totaling 871 hectares in Bukit Besi.

- Bernama

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