The effect of this unchecked mining has been devastating on the environment, for it usually involves digging along the riverbank or the use of mercury to pan for gold in the river bed besides gouging mountainsides.
For their labor, the illegal miners said, they earned VND100,000 (US$4.8) to VND150,000 a day, more than double the wage paid to hired laborers.
Le Phuoc Chuong of the Agency for Natural Resources and Environment in Dakrong District said it was hard to stop the mining in the river since people were poor and it was their only livelihood.
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