Govt prepares for arbitration over Phichit gold mine

By PRATCH RUJIVANAROM, 
WASAMON AUDJARINT 
THE NATION

 

File photo

 

Lawyers respond after foreign firm seeks new review regarding closure.

THE THAI government has begun preparing for arbitration in the conflict over the ordered closure of an Australian gold mine in Phichit.

 

Pasu Loharjun, the Industry Ministry permanent secretary, said yesterday that the ministry had already consulted with the government’s legal team on the upcoming proceedings under the Thailand-Australia Free Trade Agreement (TAFTA).

 

Last Friday, Kingsgate Consolidated announced that it would commence arbitration proceedings against the Thai government, claiming that the government’s order to suspend the mining operation had harmed their business and violated the TAFTA.

 

Pasu said the government was in the process of selecting a Thai government representative for the proceedings within the one-month time frame.

 

He said that the representative would present the government’s case to the arbitrator and negotiate with the representative from Kingsgate. The arbitration proceedings will begin in January next year and could take one or two years to conclude.

 

The mine, which was closed on January 1, 2017, was operated by Akara Resources, which is owned by Kingsgate.

Pasu also said that the conclusion of the committee looking into the environmental and health impacts from Akara’s gold mine would be included as part of Thailand’s case.

 

He said direct negotiations between the government and Kingsgate were still continuing as 

 the company had shown its willingness to keep talking with the Thai government.

 

Government spokesperson Lt Gen Sansern Kaewkamnerd said Prime Minister General Prayut Chan-o-cha and the Cabinet had already been informed about Kingsgate’s decision to commence arbitration proceedings. 

 

He said the PM insisted there was nothing to worry about regarding the arbitration proceedings as there was still a chance to end the conflict through negotiation.

 

“The PM insisted that the well-being of the citizens was the first priority, so despite the … Public Health Ministry being unable to confirm the health impacts from the mining operation, the government has to temporarily suspend the gold mine operation until all inspections on the mine reach a conclusion,” Sansern said.

 

He also said that the government had acknowledged the amount of compensation for damages to Kingsgate’s business, but it was not a concern to the government.

 

Kingsgate operates the Chatree gold mine in Phichit via Akara Resources, its subsidiary in Thailand. The gold mining operation at Chatree has been suspended since January 1 as per the order of National Council for Peace and Order.

 

The committee set up to inspect and solve environmental and health impacts from Akara’s gold mine has still not finished its task and come up with a final conclusion.

 

Source: http://www.nationmultimedia.com/detail/national/30331077

 

-- © Copyright The Nation 2017-11-07

The backtracking begins now. Internationally recognised arbitration bodies trump a Section 44 pronouncement.

So nothing is a concern for the government, including the health of the locals in spite of what he says. 

 

This interaction on an international level will show how small, stupid and insignificant him and his cheating cronies are. All a misunderstanding no doubt.

2 hours ago, webfact said:

“The PM insisted that the well-being of the citizens was the first priority, so despite the … Public Health Ministry being unable to confirm the health impacts from the mining operation, the government has to temporarily suspend the gold mine operation until all inspections on the mine reach a conclusion,” Sansern said.

Intuition?

33 minutes ago, Oziex1 said:

So nothing is a concern for the government, including the health of the locals in spite of what he says. 

 

This interaction on an international level will show how small, stupid and insignificant him and his cheating cronies are. All a misunderstanding no doubt.

The concern about the locals health was just a pretext. There were external motivating factors. The stories about contamination have been just one big fat lie as evidenced by the admissions of the minister concerned.

“Industry Minister Atchaka Sibunruang acknowledged "investigations had been unable to confirm that the gold mine causes heavy metal and cyanide contamination in the environment and people's sickness".

Earlier the Ministry commissioned consulting firm Behre Dollbere International to review the mine's operations but the report concluded it failed to find any contamination of the surrounding area with cyanide and heavy metals.

However the kicker is....."But in the interest of people around the gold mine and resolving the conflict, we made a decision to close the mine by the end of the year," Atchaka said. 

Which effectively is an admission they closed it "in the interest of the people" and to resolve some fabricated conflict without any evidence of contamination. That should go down well at the Arbitration Hearing.

 

This was the mine that reaped tens of millions of dollars in taxes and royalties for Thailand. "Prayut promised justice for the company (sick joke No.1) and local people (sick joke No.2) who have been devastated by the loss of jobs and closure of businesses linked to the mine". Presumably he speaks of Article 44 style justice.

And if anyone is looking for the smoking gun as to why the closure took place look no further than Thai businessman Chatchai Yenbamroong who made some ridiculous offer to buy out half the company immediately after Prayut dropped the Article 44 bomb on Kingsgate.

The cruncher comes in his statement to the media that “he would lobby the Government to overturn the ban because he had access to decision-makers (government connections?) in Thailand that Kingsgate lacked”. Meaning the names that go on the Christmas card envelopes?

How convenient is that? Say no more...wink, wink, nudge, nudge.

2 hours ago, webfact said:

“The PM insisted that the well-being of the citizens was the first priority, so despite the … Public Health Ministry being unable to confirm the health impacts from the mining operation, the government has to temporarily suspend the gold mine operation until all inspections on the mine reach a conclusion,” Sansern said.

That is sort of game over for the arbitration.  An admission to closing the mine before any evidence was found.  

3 hours ago, Oziex1 said:

So nothing is a concern for the government, including the health of the locals in spite of what he says. 

 

This interaction on an international level will show how small, stupid and insignificant him and his cheating cronies are. All a misunderstanding no doubt.

Yes, when they were shooting civillians dead in the streets in 2010, we all remember just how much the government cares for it's citizens.

 

Clearly it's an embarrasssing failed political attempt to seize the assets of foreign company. They just forgot about those international agreements. You know, the ones where Thailand gets to sell millions of cars to Australia without being blocked but exorborant tariffs like the ones Thailand imposes against other countries.  

Edited November 8, 20178 yr by Time Traveller

The government should counter sue either under arbitration or in Thai court for damages to the local population. This could be an enormous sum and give the government bargaining power in the arbitration.

1 hour ago, retarius said:

The government should counter sue either under arbitration or in Thai court for damages to the local population. This could be an enormous sum and give the government bargaining power in the arbitration.

Retarius you need to dig a little deeper into this story as it has not been proved if any harm has been done to people by the mining activities

1 hour ago, retarius said:

The government should counter sue either under arbitration or in Thai court for damages to the local population. This could be an enormous sum and give the government bargaining power in the arbitration.

Your suggestion has no merit. I think you will find that has already been tried on by a group of parasitic lawyers claiming 1.85 million baht each of a large number of villagers. It failed because there was no evidence of pollution or consequential health issues with those people. None of the villagers or the shonky lawyers got anything.

I repeat:

“Industry Minister Atchaka Sibunruang acknowledged "investigations had been unable to confirm that the gold mine causes heavy metal and cyanide contamination in the environment and people's sickness".

2 hours ago, retarius said:

The government should counter sue either under arbitration or in Thai court for damages to the local population. This could be an enormous sum and give the government bargaining power in the arbitration.

I'm glad you're not my lawyer.

12 hours ago, webfact said:

the government had acknowledged the amount of compensation for damages to Kingsgate’s business, but it was not a concern to the government.

It would be for an elected government but not for Prayut's government because it's not accountable for negligence. As far as the amount of liability created by Prayut, he has unrestricted access to the treasury to meet whatever compensation decided by the arbitration tribunal -just sell a couple billion baht in bonds. The next elected government will bear the burden.

5 hours ago, retarius said:

damages to the local population.

Prayut would do better to claim compensation for damage to his leadership.

Must be worth at least the cost of littering the beach with a cigarette.

I wonder if junta will ever be deemed responsible and for the negligent loss they are going to suffer... Just a rhetorical question.

They're going to have their pants pulled down and get a dry shafting

14 hours ago, webfact said:

The arbitration proceedings will begin in January next year and could take one or two years to conclude.

Maybe just maybe that may be the reason to hold election. Pass the shit to the next government and have them pay the compensation from the empty treasury. 

On 11/7/2017 at 9:34 PM, retarius said:

The government should counter sue either under arbitration or in Thai court for damages to the local population. This could be an enormous sum and give the government bargaining power in the arbitration.

We have a Thai cyber police on the forum !  Clearly you have no concept or understanding of legal dispute resolution claims, just posting stupid anti foreign / pro-junta comments