When
he was interviewed by KPL News last week, he said that this miner had been
contributing money to develop the community since 2003. For that year it gave
US$96,000, for the next three years, 2004 to 2006, US$100,000, and from 2007
until the completion of the project, US$500,000.The money was utilised to support the people of 14 villages, as they were affected by the mining company�s excavation projects in Savannaket and Khammouane provinces.
Three districts of western Savannakhet were affected, Vilaboury, Sepon and Adsaphone. For Khammouane province, this miner mined for minerals in two districts, Boualapha and Xaybouathong.
Initially, this mining company surveyed and then carried out excavation work on 28 square kilometres of land but its area of operation expanded and presently it was on 90 square kilometres. The allocated area was 1,250 square kilometres. Mr Khamvieng said the fund was used for education, public health, purification of water, agriculture, infrastructure and business promotion.
For education, we decided to build three secondary schools, more than 10 primary schools, libraries and dormitories for students, said the community relations manager.
He also said that the grant was also used to run the Houang Kong Training Centre and Vila Boutique.
The former was used to train the village trainees to become farmers who used modern agricultural techniques to grow maize, fruits and even mushrooms. The other one was used to train women in dressmaking and managing tailoring outlets.
Mr Khamvieng said that the MMG Lane Xang Minerals Sepon employed 4,266 workers and 341 or eight per cent of the total work force, were foreign experts. Fifty two per cent of the local workers came from Savannakhet and the rest or 40 per cent were from the nearby provinces.The MMG adopted a policy of developing the workers of Vilaboury district by providing courses in computer software, English language, general machinery, carpentry and data entry. The MMG Lane Xang Minerals Sepon planned to expand copper production from 65,000 to 80,500 tonnes per year. The Lao government had a 10 per cent stake in this mine. Since the mine began its mining activities in 2003 it had paid US$280 million to the government in taxes.