M'sia wants to suspend bauxite mining: source

Kuala Lumpur

MALAYSIA is pushing to suspend bauxite mining due to concerns about its impact on the environment, a Cabinet source said on Saturday, threatening to interrupt supply of the aluminium-making ingredient to China.

The largely unregulated industry has grown rapidly in the last two years to meet Chinese demand. Bauxite mining was blamed for turning the waters red on a stretch of coastline and surrounding rivers in eastern Peninsula Malaysia after two days of heavy rain earlier this week.