Bauxite mining moratorium in Malaysia further extends to end of 2018

After a month of uncertainty over bauxite mining, when the mining moratorium period officially ended on June 30, the Malaysian government announced it has extended its 2016 moratorium on bauxite mining until the end of 2018, as large stockpiles of bauxite in the ports still remain to be cleared.

"The moratorium is until Dec. 31, as there is still half a million tonnes of [bauxite] stockpiled at the ports," a spokesman for the Ministry of Water, Land and Natural Resources said on Tuesday , July 31.

Malaysia became the biggest supplier of bauxite to China after Indonesia, the top bauxite supplier to China declared a ban of ore export in 2014. However, unregulated random mining of bauxite and growing bauxite stockpiles in the eastern state of Pahang contaminated water sources, environment and vegetation covering the state with red dust. This led to a ban on all bauxite mining activities since early 2016.

Malaysia shipped nearly 3.5 million tonnes of bauxite per month to China at the end of 2015 as miners rushed to fill a supply gap that was created by Indonesia’s ore exports ban.

The previous government had extended the moratorium seven times since the date of its enforcement on January 15, 2016, for keeping the pollution, lack of regulations, illegal mining, as well as excessive extraction at check.

Wan Junaidi Tuanku Jaafar, the former natural resources and environment minister, estimated in March that there was still 10 million tonnes of bauxite stockpiled in the ports of Pahang state to be cleared.

Bukit Goh bauxite action coordinating committee chairman Datuk Dr. Abdul Wahid Manap expected the new government to decide on the fate of the mining industry in Malaysia. Many bauxite mining operators and settlers hoped the government would revive the industry.