On 2017, the Ministry of Economic Affairs agreed to extend Asia Cement's mining rights in Hualien's Sincheng by 20 years. At the time, environmental organizations filed an appeal but the appeal was denied. They immediately filed an administrative lawsuit. In July, the Taipei High Administrative Court issued a ruling cancelling the Executive Yuan's decision and the administrative punishment for the ministry's approval of the extension. Until now, however, only Asia Cement has expressed intention to appeal. The ministry has not yet made a decision. Therefore, environmental groups are calling on the ministry to give up the appeal and calling on the ministry to stop wasting resources on lawsuits.


Environmental groups and members of the Anti-Asia Cement Self-Help Association call on the government to stop wasting resources on lawsuits and appeals. In 2017, the Ministry of Economic Affairs agreed to extend Asia Cement's mining rights in Hualien's Sincheng by 20 years. After an appeal and administrative litigation were dismissed, the Taipei High Administrative Court dismissed administrative penalties and said the ministry should not appeal the ruling and instead show some respect for the indigenous community.

Please have some self-respect and stop using your working rights to threaten the indigenous community and Asia Cement workers. Stop using these despicable means to sow discord within the Taroko Tribe.

In reality, they may not have a way to -- or they won't actively pursue consultation and consent rights, because even if they haven't consented yet, they can continue mining as long as the rejection hasn't happened yet. We feel this impacts the rights of surrounding and indigenous residents. We hope the Ministry of Economic Affairs can stop wasting time on appealing.

A lawyer says the ruling notice was received on July 25 and an appeal must be filed within 20 days. Asia Cement announced earlier in July that it was preparing for an appeal due to factors including business and industrial development as well as the livelihoods of its employees. The ministry remains undecided.

We are still discussing (whether to appeal). We have to provide the Executive Yuan with some relevant laws, industrial development, social factors, indigenous rights (and other topics) for analysis. We will make a decision after we give all this to the Executive Yuan.

The ministry says it will discuss relevant legal, industrial, environmental and indigenous rights issues with the Executive Yuan before making a decision. Meanwhile, environmental groups say even if the extension penalties are revoked under current mining laws, the company can continue mining for now and the government needs to amend the Mining Act as soon as possible.



呼籲相關單位不要再上訴。環保團體和反亞泥自救會成員指出，經濟部在2017年，同意亞泥在花蓮新城山礦區的採礦權、展限20年，經過訴願駁回，以及後續的行政訴訟之後，台北高等行政法院已經判決撤銷訴願和展限的行政處分，呼籲經濟部能放棄上訴，展現政府重視礦業和原住民族的決心。

反亞泥還我傳統領域自救會長 田明正表示：「請自重，別再用工作權，恐嚇部落族人及亞泥員工，別再用惡劣至極的手段，分化太魯閣族人。」

台灣蠻野心足生態協會律師 蔡雅瀅表示：「事實上，它很可能會沒有辦法，不會很積極去落實諮商同意權，因為就算還沒有同意，只要還在駁掉之前，它都可以繼續採礦，我們認為這是對受影響的周邊居民跟族人，事實上是保障不周的，希望說，能夠，經濟部不要把時間花，浪費在上訴上。」

律師指出，已經在7月25號收到判決書，按照程序來說，要在20天內決定是否上訴。亞泥早在7月份就公告，考量企業、產業發展，以及勞工生計等因素會準備上訴，但經濟部態度未明。

經濟部礦務局主秘 徐銘宏表示：「（上訴與否)還在討論當中，行政院這邊，針對就是說，我們要提供一些相關的法制、產業發展、社會層面、原民權益(等項目)分析，給行政院以後，我們再決定。」

經濟部指出，目前針對法制、產業和環境因素，以及原住民族權益進行研議，會和行政院討論後做決定。環保團體則表示，現行礦業法，就算展限處分被撤銷，但在申請駁回期間，業者還是可以採礦，因此希望相關單位，能盡快進行礦業法改革。