According to reports by these news agencies, deaths in these mines are so common that an unwritten law is in place by which families of miners who died from accidents on the job are regularly paid 20-30 million Vietnamese dong ($1,260-$1,890) to prevent them from reporting deaths or suing mine operators.

The state-owned coal company, which took over mining in the area in the early 1960s, closed operations in 1992 because coal in Hai Duong is of low quality and costly to extract. Unregulated and private mines have sprung up in its place.

Miners say that the illegal mine shafts are relatively small, about 4 feet wide and 60-230 feet deep. Workers are reportedly lifted in and out of these mines by rope.

Small farmers in the area are drawn to work in these mines because they offer a higher income than they can get from farming.

“Every day we get 20,000 dong [$1.26] and a free lunch if we can get 100kg [220 lb] of coal,” one miner said, according to an article in the March 22 issue of Vietnam Investment Review. At that mine, workers reportedly breathe air that is hand-pumped through cloth tubes from above ground into the mineshaft. The article described another more modern mine run by a family in their backyard that has an electric pump and plastic tubes. There each member of the Son family reportedly earns about VND 50,000 ($3.15) a day.

Authorities at the Chi Linh district have reportedly asked the police and military to take stricter action against the illegal mines, with limited success. The Vietnam News Service (VNS) said December 21 the Hai Duong police seized 20 boats loading coal from these mines during a recent one-month crackdown ordered by the Chi Linh District’s Party Committee. The article also pointed out that while police have recently stepped up inspections at ports and loading areas, illegal mining is still on the rise. The small-scale industry appears to be generally tolerated by officials and police, and mine operators and others profit from government loopholes.

Relaxing control of state industry has accelerated, along with foreign investment, since the government launched the “Doi Moi” economic reforms in 1986, moving from a strictly centralized, planned economy with nationalized industry to incorporating private ownership and capitalist market mechanisms. With “assistance” from the Australian government and the World Bank, the first auction of a state enterprise took place in February 2003. The privately-owned Viet Tin Construction Joint Stock and Trading Company bought the Hai Phong Agricultural Mechanical Engineering Company at that auction for $300,000.

The March 22 issue of Vietnam Investment Review described how the “bandit coal,” as it is called, became semi-legitimized last year. It said that in December 2003 the Hai Duong police announced a coal bandit amnesty of sorts. Under it, illegal mine operators were given 20 days to sell 40,000 tons of stored coal to local authorities before being shut down. A local packing company, Hoang Le, was officially allowed to buy the coal.

Hoang Le managers, however, sold the company’s financial invoices for VND 30,000 ($1.89) each on the black market allowing trucks to transport coal through checkpoints to any customer. What’s more, the coal sold for VND 120,000-150,000 per ton, while the set price on the invoices was only VND 70,000, relieving the buyer from paying about half the tax required by the state. Hoang Le continued issuing the invoices after the 20-day amnesty, resulting in a number of new illegal mines opening to meet the increased demand. After raking in VND 2 billion ($126,000) in illegal profits in two months, police said Hoang Le would be replaced as the official buyer.

Residents and brick kiln operators from neighboring provinces, among others, feed the high demand for black market coal in the area. By the end of last year, 70 illegal mines employing 350 people were in operation in the Van Duc and An Lac communes in Hai Duong province, said the Vietnam Investment Review.

The Vietnam News Service said local authorities estimate as much as 150,000 tons of coal have been produced from illegal mines in Hai Duong. Although significant, this still represents a small percentage of total national coal production.

Coal production in Vietnam, primarily anthracite, has risen dramatically in recent years to meet the growing demand in both foreign and domestic markets. Vietnam has become the third-largest producer of anthracite in the world, going from 9.6 million tons in 1999 to nearly 19 million tons in 2003. Exports—primarily to China, Japan, Hungary, Thailand and the Philippines—also doubled in that period, rising to 7 million tons annually.

Hanoi plans to greatly increase use of thermoelectric power as part of shifting away from dependence on electricity from hydroelectric sources, whose output fluctuates with natural phenomena. The government plans to invest $1 billion in the construction of seven new coal-fired power plants with the goal of increasing the portion of coal-generated power to 25 percent of total electricity production by 2010. Toward this end, the Vietnam Coal Corp. (Vinacoal) is seeking $750 million in foreign investment.  
 
 
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