Military to blast close 29 illegal gold mines in Da Nang

More than 80 officers and men from the Da Nang Military Command will take part in the operation together with police officers, rangers and local authorities to destroy the mines in a forest in the mountainous commune of Hoa Bac.

Colonel Nguyen Quang Vinh, its deputy commander, said it would take two weeks.

"Combat engineers will dig into the tunnels to place the explosives. They will then detonate them to close their mouths and return the forest landscape."

Hundreds of kilograms of industrial explosives will be used.

Illegal gold mining went on for years in the forests of Hoa Bac Commune, polluting water sources and causing security concerns.

Various studies around the world have shown that mining causes erosion, sinkholes, loss of biodiversity, contamination of the soil, groundwater and surface water, and a release of large amounts of toxic contaminants.

Many people in Vietnam have lost their lives in illegal gold mines in the past two decades, but authorities have been unable to put an end to it.