KRATIE, Cambodia — The Cambodian government has signed off on the construction of a new cement factory deep inside Prey Lang Wildlife Sanctuary, with the factory expected to source limestone for cement production from a mining operation less than 1 kilometer, just over half a mile, from the newly approved site. This comes despite a November 2023 moratorium on the issuance of new mining licenses in Prey Lang and a halt to the expansion of existing mining businesses operating in the ostensibly protected forest. The 99-hectare (245-acre) plot of land in Kratie province that’s been earmarked for the cement factory was awarded in January to KP Cement, a politically connected company already operating mining pits in Prey Lang. Mongabay’s previous investigation into KP Cement uncovered rampant deforestation at the company’s mine where limestone and marble are being unearthed, irrevocably altering the ecosystem of Prey Lang. The roughly 490,000-hectare (1.2-million-acre) Prey Lang has seen mining operations spring up and expand within each of the four provinces that the wildlife sanctuary straddles in central Cambodia. It’s one of the largest low-lying rainforests in mainland Southeast Asia, but its flat terrain and abundance of resources has seen illegal loggers, industrial-scale miners and wildlife traffickers flock to the forest, picking Prey Lang clean above and below the ground. Over the course of 2023, a mining boom gripped the wildlife sanctuary and saw infamous timber trader Try Pheap pick up some 28,000 hectares (69,200 acres) in new iron ore mining concessions — most of which…This article was originally published on Mongabay

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