Renaissance Minerals Cambodia, a subsidiary of Australian-listed Emerald Resources, is setting its sights on a new project in Meem District, Thom Bee Province.
An Australian gold mining company, which is now producing 300 to 400 kilograms of gold per month, is poised to replicate its success in the province with a new gold mining operation.
Mr. Kong Sitha, Deputy Director General of the Department of Mineral Resources, said: "The mining sector does not end with the gold mine, Renaissance Minerals Cambodia will open the well and depth cutting front, and the company still has another project, which is at Mae Mot in Kum Tam Mao."
Mr. Sitha said at the mining office of Kew Sima that it is a good sign for development in 2026 or 2027.
The company's Okvau Gold Project, located 275 kilometres northeast of Phnom Penh, has positioned Renaissance Minerals as Cambodia's leading international gold mining operation.
Renaissance Minerals (Cambodia) Ltd's gold mine is located in O Kwaw, Kum Chong Phal, Kew Sima District, Mon Kiri Province.
Bernie Cleary, project director of Okvau Gold, said: "The company is expected to harvest the first gold in 2021 at 110,000 ounces (over 3 tonnes) per year."
The project began in 2006 when the first exploration work was carried out in Okvau.
In 2017, the Ministry of Environment granted an environmental license, and in 2018, the Ministry of Mines and Energy issued an industrial mining license signed by the Prime Minister of Cambodia.
Construction of the project began in 2020, and the first gold injection took place in 2021.
As of early August 2022, the Government of Cambodia received over $13 million from gold refining activities.
Mr Cleary added: "We have exploration projects in Mead where we hope to have development operations there and build gold mines there in the coming years."
He continued: "Our goal is to start construction by the end of this year or early next year in order to have gold mining within two to three years."
According to the company's website, it has demonstrated the unique potential of Cambodia's gold reserves, with several other mining projects underway, including at Snool, Duk Dong and Preah Klang.
The Meem project, located in Kum Cham Tamoi, is a new step for Renaissance Minerals as it continues to forge relationships with local communities and the Cambodian government.
Mr Cleary mentioned: "We are the first of its kind in Cambodia, and we have built strong relationships with the communities in which we operate, as well as with the government."
He affirmed that the company has created employment opportunities for Cambodians, with 90 percent of the workforce being local, including women.
The company also provides training to its employees, ensuring that Cambodians have the necessary skills to operate mining equipment and machinery.
Mr. Cleary pointed out that the company's Okvau is not only a mining operation but also maintains a wildlife sanctuary, with a wide variety of animals, such as monkeys, peacocks and deer, living in the project development area.
He added: "We have to make sure that there is no impact with the animals, so we have to monitor in that regard.
Renaissance Minerals has also put in place stringent environmental monitoring measures to ensure that water quality, air quality, and the health of the surrounding environment are constantly assessed.
Mr. Ng Soviman, Deputy Governor of Mon Kiri Province, expressed support for the project, urging the company to continue to pay attention to the environment and empower Cambodian workers to become more skilled.
He said: "I hope that there will be companies to develop in the mining and other sectors with the Royal Government of Cambodia, especially in the province of Mon Kiri."
Mr. Kong Sitha said that those who are not in the mining sector may have a misunderstanding of this work, which is considered a destructive and dangerous sector.
He continues: "The mining sector starts later and is an important sector in participating in the development of the national society."
Puy Ka, President of the Cambodian Journalists Club, said this was the occasion for a team of more than 50 journalists from 20 organizations to arrive at the gold mine site in Kiri Province.
He stated: "We are the ones who carry the news to the world that all of our families, there is no family that does not use gold.
Kris Lai Hock, an engineer at Renaissance Minerals Cambodia, said that the mine in the O Kwai area has been designed or excavated in 7 stages and is in the process of running a phase 8 with a deeper depth and size.
He described the process since the drilling of gold samples, blasting, digging and transporting, mainly starting from safety factors.
"In this digging phase, we need to study the safety factors by focusing on the pit wall and start drilling between 5 and 10 meters to determine which locations have gold and which do not."
After the design is completed, the two drilling machines start to operate in both day and night shifts, drilling 400 meters a day and taking samples from the drilling to be examined in the laboratory on gold quality.
For blasting, the expert team must precisely locate and use the explosive according to the standard according to the depth and spacing.
After the explosion, the transport team consisted of 12 heavy vehicles with a load of nearly 100 tonnes per unit and 3 medium vehicles with a load of 50 tons.
He said: "We quarry both mineral and non-mineral coal approximately 500,000 cubic meters per month, obtaining 200,000 cubic meters of mineral coal or 35 percent per month."
Mineral coal is taken to mill and refine at the factory while the residual battery is taken to be dumped at the waste dump site.
Lai Hoc told Phnom Penh Post near the mine: "A mixture of precious minerals, including gold, silver and copper, is extracted from rocks that contain up to 90 percent gold, and 5,000 tonnes of coal can extract 10 kilograms of gold."
The Khmer engineer said that the mine currently has a cross section of 600 meters and a depth of 210 meters, while the mine will be excavated up to a cross section of 800 meters and a depth of 415 meters.
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