Quang Nam investigates sand mine auction starting at 1.2 billion VND, closing at 370 billion VND

On the afternoon of October 19, Chairman of the People's Committee of Quang Nam province Le Van Dung signed an official dispatch assigning functional agencies and Dien Ban town to check for unusual signs in the auction of the right to exploit sand as a common construction material at the sand mine marked DB2B, Dien Tho commune, Dien Ban town.

According to the report of the Department of Natural Resources and Environment of Quang Nam province, on the morning of October 18, at the Hall of the People's Committee of Dien Ban town, Hoa Thuan Joint Stock Auction Company (a unit hired by the Department of Natural Resources and Environment of Dien Ban town to conduct the auction) organized an auction of the right to exploit sand minerals as common construction materials at the mine marked DB2B, Dien Tho commune.

The results of the auction for mineral exploitation rights at this mine had unusual factors with the price paid being many times higher than the starting price and the price of construction materials announced by the authorities, showing signs of market manipulation for profit, pushing up the price of construction sand materials, negatively affecting economic security and social order.

To promptly inspect, handle and rectify the above situation, the Chairman of the People's Committee of Quang Nam province assigned the Department of Natural Resources and Environment to preside over and coordinate with the Department of Justice, relevant functional agencies and the People's Committee of Dien Ban town to inspect and review the records, processes and procedures related to the auction of mineral exploitation rights for the DB2B mine; including issues regarding financial capacity and equity of the auction participants as prescribed in Article 53 of the 2010 Law on Minerals and shortcomings in the implementation of the processes and procedures for auctioning mineral exploitation rights in the area to advise the Provincial People's Committee to direct timely correction and remediation and report to the Prime Minister, relevant ministries and branches for consideration, research and amendment and supplementation of the provisions of the 2016 Law on Property Auction accordingly.

Mr. Le Van Dung also assigned the Quang Nam Provincial Police to direct the investigation, verification, and clarification of the motives and purposes of paying unusually high prices at the auction of mineral exploitation rights at the sand mine marked DB2B; strictly handle cases of taking advantage of the auction to disrupt the market for personal gain. Do not allow a shortage of materials, pushing up prices, causing difficulties for businesses and people.

While waiting for the relevant authorities to inspect and handle the matter, the People's Committee of Dien Ban town has temporarily not issued a decision to recognize the results of the auction for mineral exploitation rights at the DB2B mine.

The area of ​​sand mineral resources for common construction materials in DB2B has an area of ​​6.04 hectares, estimated resources of 59,000 m3 of sand, starting price R is 5% (this area has not been explored for minerals, so the starting price of the auction is determined by the level of mineral exploitation right fee (R) prescribed in Appendix I of Decree No. 67/2019/ND-CP dated July 31, 2019 of the Government).

On October 18, at the Hall of Dien Ban Town People's Committee, an auction of mineral exploitation rights at the DB2B mine took place with a starting price of 1.2 billion VND.

The auction ended at 4:10 a.m. on October 19, after 200 rounds, the winning bidder was MT Quang Da Joint Stock Company, headquartered in Da Nang City, with a winning bid price of 1,534.6% R, equivalent to the estimated winning bid price based on the estimated reserve of 159,000 m3 of more than 370.5 billion VND, an increase of nearly 369.4 billion VND compared to the starting price.