Cambodia may burn homes for Australian mine

By South East Asia correspondent Zoe Daniel
Source: ABC.Net

The Cambodian government is threatening to burn homes to move people who are living around the site of a gold deposit discovered by an Australian company.

The threat affects around 95 families in Cambodia's Mondulkiri province.

They are living on or around a site that is being explored by the Melbourne based company Ozminerals.

In March, the company announced the discovery of gold in the area and it is now doing further sampling to assess the potential for a mine.

The Cambodian government has said it could be the country's most significant mining discovery so far.

Now local authorities are trying to force people living in the area to move.

Residents have been told their houses will be burnt or demolished if they do not go, but they want compensation first.

Ozminerals says they do not have to move yet but the government says they are illegal miners and they must go.