This article first appeared in The Edge Financial Daily, on January 7, 2016.

KUALA LUMPUR: A three-month moratorium will be imposed on all bauxite mining activities in Pahang from Jan 15 to tackle the pollution caused by the industry, Datuk Seri Dr Wan Junaidi Tuanku Jaafar announced yesterday.

The natural resources and environment minister said if the industry fails to “contain” the pollution problem within three months, the moratorium will be extended indefinitely.

But he said the government is not looking towards banning bauxite mining activities entirely.

“This morning, we had a cabinet meeting, and now we leave it up to the industry. If the industry wants to manage this environmental issue, it can be done in three months.

“But if it cannot carry this out in three months, then we will extend the moratorium,” Wan Junaidi told a press conference here.

The first month of the moratorium will see all stockpiles cleared from the port, which he said were the main cause of the polluted sea.

All stockpiles outside the area will be cleared in the second month, he said.

He said they will “reinstall everything” in the third month and move all legal stockpiles to an integrated stockpile centre, as well as impose new terms and conditions for approved permits (APs).

“APs will be issued based on the port’s capacity. So, this will automatically cause the stockpiles to be cleared and the number of lorries reduced.”

The government will not be issuing new APs within the moratorium period, unless the companies have existing contracts in the industry, Wan Junaidi said.

He added that companies that refuse to clear their stockpiles within the moratorium period will have their APs withdrawn.

“We are not stopping the bauxite industry; there have been no instructions to do so,” said Wan Junaidi.

Pahang Menteri Besar Datuk Seri Adnan Yaakob said those affected by the bauxite mining had not asked the state government for compensation.

“My advice to the public is [to] remain calm; we are doing everything possible to assist them. We are not in denial,” said Adnan.

He said the state government earned RM46.7 million in royalty from bauxite mining last year, compared with RM2.4 million in 2014.

Rampant bauxite mining has been blamed for turning rivers and the shoreline off Kuantan, Pahang, on the peninsula’s east coast, red after two days of heavy rain earlier this week.

It was reported that in the first 11 months of 2015, Malaysia exported more than 20 million tonnes of bauxite to China, up nearly 700% from the previous year. In 2013, it only shipped around 162,000 tonnes. — The Malaysian Insider