Thailand: Asia Cement has arranged negotiations with the Ministry of Industry to retrieve a US$8.5m deposit placed as a guarantee for a limestone mine licence application. The cement producer was granted a licence to operate a limestone mine in Nakhon Si Thammarat province in 1997. However, an environmental order nullified the licence and allowed the government to keep the deposit, according to the Bangkok Post.
"The government and Asia Cement have set up legal teams to negotiate and seek solutions that are acceptable to both sides," said Chat Hongtiamchant, director-general of the ministry's Department of Primary Industries and Mines. The subsidiary of Italcementi also wants to drop the mine project due to a change in the market demand.