A clearly irate Natural Resources and Environment Minister Wan Junaidi Tuanku Jaafar also threatened to extend the moratorium if the stockpile is not cleared by year-end.

“I want to say here and let everyone hear.

“If by mid-December the stockpile is not finished, I will demand another six-month extension (from the Cabinet),” he told reporters at his office here today.

Wan Junaidi also said he had informed the Pahang Government as well as Menteri Besar Adnan Yaakob on the extension and they agreed with the decision.

He explained that the government had done its part by issuing 38 special APs (approved permits) to clear 3.76 million tonnes of bauxite from existing stockpiles during the moratorium period, but only 1.27 million tonnes were cleared (exported).

“I’m not sure what the causes are.

“This is the fault of the industry players who have gotten the APs. They cannot blame the government for their business being affected.”

Last year, rampant bauxite mining led to public outrage in Kuantan, triggering immense fear of irreversible environmental pollution in Pahang.

The largely unregulated bauxite industry had boomed over the past two years due to China’s growing demands to fill in a supply gap after Indonesia had banned its bauxite exports.

Wan Junaidi responded by imposing a moratorium, first on Jan 15 this year, which was scheduled to end on April 15. However, the deadline was extended to July 15.

At the end of July, the government announced another extension of the moratorium to Sept 15, as a stockpile of 5.4 million tonnes remained at the Kuantan port.

The moratorium was to address industry concerns such as pollution, lack of regulations and excessive extraction by operators.

Throughout the mining ban, Putrajaya had enforced several standard operating procedures (SOP) to reduce pollution, including having dedicated roads, an integrated stockpile area, and allowing only fully-covered lorries to transport bauxite to Kuantan port.