Sunshine Mineral Co is required to submit more environmental impact data by October after the firm applied to expand its mining activities in a wildlife habitat in Taitung County, the Environmental Protection Administration (EPA) said yesterday.
Sunshine Mineral operates a mine in Lidao Village (利稻) in Haiduan Township (海端).
While the company had obtained a permit in 1975 to mine mica, the Forestry Bureau in 2000 established the Guanshan Wildlife Critical Habitat, which overlaps the area laid out in the permit.
The habitat is home to hundreds of species, including Formosan black bears and Taiwan blue pheasants, the bureau said.
The company filed an application to the EPA to expand its mining activities from less than 1 hectare to about 11.9 hectares.
“Guanshan Wildlife Critical Habitat is listed as a level-one environmentally sensitive area in the Ministry of the Interior’s regional development plan,” Citizen of the Earth, Taiwan researcher Pan Cheng-cheng (潘正正) said.
“The status of Guanshan Wildlife Critical Habitat is similar to that of a national park,” EPA official Chang Hsueh-wen (張學文) said.
The consent of local Aborigines is another issue.
The company said it had obtained the consent of the Bunun according to the procedures stipulated in the Indigenous Peoples Basic Act (原住民族基本法).
Of 35 representatives of families who attended a meeting in July last year, 34 agreed with the plan, the company said.
However, many local Aborigines were doubtful about the turnout, Pan said.
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