The city’s Department of Natural Resources and Environment quoted an Institute of Geology and Mineral Resources’ report as saying the rocks extracted at Mo Spring have pink, purplish pink, white and yellow hues, are not transparent and have many cracks across their surfaces.
In its note to the city government, the department called for a ban on exploring, exploiting, storing and transporting rocks at the site to preserve the landscape of the Ba Na – Suoi Mo tourism area.
A month ago, information about suspected rose quartz at Mo Spring prompted residents of Hoa Ninh and Hoa Son communes to mine and exploit the quarry for profit.
A gemstone dealer named Kh. allegedly hired around ten strongmen to monitor Mo Spring and trading spots to force locals who extract the stones to sell their finds to him.
He allegedly paid VND5,000 (US$0.31) per kilo of mined rose quartz.
It took around three to four days for Kh. to collect 10-15 tons of this rock to sell in Ho Chi Minh City.
His middleman was supposedly a big gemstone dealer named Q., who is a Da Nang resident operating trades in HCMC.
Reported by Nguyen Huu |
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