Bauxite Mining in

Kuantan Leads to
Catastrophic Disaster

PROBLEM STATEMENT

In Kuantan, Malaysia, existence of bauxite caught many eyes of business industry to be

excavate to fulfil the demand.
Bauxite is used to processed into aluminium oxide or alumina before being smelted to
extract aluminium. Due to rich of bauxite sources in Kuantan, Pahangs Bauxite Industry
getting greedy as amount of bauxite demand increases.
Thus turn out Malaysia became the worlds largest exporter of bauxite to China. Even
though bauxite mining beneficial for economic. It brings the side effects too.

Bauxite mining caused land pollution, air pollution and water pollution all in one at the same
time. Due to bauxite mining, a few part of Kuantan already covered by red dust. The dust
lead to unhealthy index of air since unwanted substance mix with the air and lead to air
pollution.
the left mines no longer can be used for agriculture purposes. The soil become polluted and
cannot be used to plant any crops. The left mines leaves a red scenery view such as the
place were on mars where nothing growth or live on top of the land.
The effects getting worse when the polluted soil flows into the river and run to the sea. Lots
of fish found dead in the river and the sea situated near the beach turn into red. This

What is the initial situation ?

Kuantan changed suddenly in January 2014, when, in an

attempt to boost its own aluminium-smelting industry right
after Indonesia banned exports of bauxite ore.
Up to that point Indonesia had been China's major supplier.
After the incident Several Indonesian mining companies
then started looking at the hills above Kuantan, where the
plentiful bauxite was of a lower quality than that available in
Indonesia and Australia.

A year later the problem start to get

serious. Due to uncontrolled mining
activity the nature start to talks and the
people who live there is the one who feel
the consequence.
The river and sea start to turn red is the
indicator that there will be a bigger
damage to the citizen there not only their
environment but their biggest concern is

Malaysian Anti-Corruption Commission (MACC) throw out the

statement that they believed there are corruptions in the
bauxite mining industry.
Pahang states government earned Rm 2.4 million in 2014 and
Rm 46.7 million in royalties from the bauxite mining in 2015
there is no solution or control that the state government can do
to counter the pollution issue as this mining business give a lot
of profit to the state and as the MACC report strengthen the
theories that there is something wrong until the mining of
bauxite is uncontrolled.

Who take the responsibilities?

the Kuantan MP Fuziah Salleh has

proposed the moratorium of the
mining for some period for cleaning
purpose and the state executive
council is accepting the banning and
focusing on clearing the stockpiles for
the month period.
After three months, Fuziah wants the
three-month moratorium on bauxite
mining in the state to be extended
until a more comprehensive standard
operating procedure (SOP) is put into
place. But not all group had agree
with this moratorium as committee.

Dr Saharuddin Mohd Said: stopping mining

would be a drawback to Bukit Goh settlers
as mining bauxite are their main income.
Apart from that there is another issue as
MACC received complaints from the
residents that lead to the conclusion of
existing corruption between lorry
companies, lorry drivers, mining companies
and people with high rankings (Ceo etc.)
resulted that some of the settlers who sell
their land for mining fell cheated.

As from the Pahang chief state, Datuk Seri Adnan Yaakob

denies the accusation that government does not take
any action towards the bauxite issue, the Pahang
government and Natural Resources and Environment
Ministry will issue a joint statement regarding the
Cabinets decision to suspend bauxite mining here and
at the same time the state government welcomes
comments from all parties on the issue of bauxite mining
in the state (Adnan).

the stockpile owners was given full

responsibility to mitigate pollution
including building washing bays,
before the stockpiles are allowed to
be exported. As The cleaning
operation involved more than 100
personnel, including from the
department, Kuantan Municipal
Council, 21 firemen, Alam Flora Sdn
Bhd and the Solid Waste
Management and Public Cleansing
Corporation (SWCorp) (Abdul Wahab)
where the work involves cleaning of
signboards, electricity poles and
road surface.

What Methods have been used?

Approved Permit (AP) will be taken

back from the owners if they fail to
clear the stockpile within the 3
months period and after this, AP will
be given to port instead of
individuals. Only companies are
allowed to apply for AP.

the immediate act is by implementing three-month

moratorium on bauxite mining in the state. The
industry has been given a mining ban starting Jan 15
if they fail to tackle illegal mining and pollution.
Kuantan Port has been given 7 days to clear its
stockpile before the bauxite seeps into the sea.

What is the recommendation been

identified?

Water is a multipurpose element needed in the mining sites. In

mining process, the surface of the water is rerouted and the
groundwater is pumped. This leads to the reduction of water quality
as well as quantity available downstream for aquatic ecosystems and
other industrial and public consumer of water. One of the methods to
solve the problem is to recycle the water used in the mining site. This
method is not only solving the environment problem but also lowering
the cost of the mining process.

Mining activity requires high amount of energy. For

example, vehicles consume fuels to transport aluminium
ore and electricity is used to grind the ore to make
ingots. This particular energy consumption causes green
house effect and increases the risk of environmental
contamination both from acquiring the fuel for energy
and the activity itself. The reduction in energy
consumption in the mining activity will also reduce the
effects on environment and also extend the nonrenewable energy life. Malaysia is a country that exposed
to high amount of sunlight every year and capable of
producing solar power. The mining sectors are
recommended to have their own solar power generator
to generate their own electricity.

The mining company is advised to recycle

used aluminium for production to reduce
mining. Besides it can lower the cost of
production, as it is cheaper to recycle the
aluminium than mining it. There are
limitations of this method. For example
produce alloys of predictable quality from
non-uniform raw materials and to reduce
metal loss in the melting process. But then
Hydro, NTNU and Sintef had developed new
alloys that are easier to recycle.

First and foremost, the government should

tighten the law when it comes to the issue.
Increasing the fine and penalty, reduce the
licensing quota and shut down any companies
that ignoring the SOPs are some of the
effective measures.

The public needs to be informed how

serious this subject is by increasing their
awareness through fairs, talks and
educational event. The information that
could be given includes how to stay safe
and healthy in such environment and what
are the preventive measure from small to a
bigger scale.

RECOMMENDATION

conclusion
In conclusion everyone has to play its role from big companies to a single
individual in order to overcome this issues. The society needs to realize how
serious the matter is as it effects the ecology. Currently the issue brings
more harm than benefits itself. We need to clearly execute the process in
order to reduce the effect and maximize its potential and benefit. Opinions in
solving the issue is greatly needed as the current solutions only put a halt in
comprehending the issue.