A 42-year-old man hailing from Bac Lieu Province, southern Vietnam has asked authorities for a green light to mine some three metric tons of gold in the Ca Ty riverbed in the south-central province of Binh Thuan.

The Department of Culture, Sports, and Tourism of Binh Thuan confirmed on Saturday that it had received a request letter for gold mining from H.P.T., who claimed his forefather discovered that the Japanese military had hidden the said amount of gold in the river section running through Phan Thiet City.

T. said in the letter that the relevant documentation and images are not available since the discovery was made a long time ago, adding that he was the only one in his family to be informed of the location of the so-called gold mine.

He also asked to excavate the gold without conducting exploration, citing prior knowledge of the mine's location.

Once he secures approval from authorities, he would conduct the gold mining process in around 10 days.

Also, he pledged to deposit an environmental remediation fee of VND500 million (US$20,000) for the province and would get the money back after restoring the original status of the location.

The man said that he would take 30 percent of the treasure trove, while the rest would be handed over to the state.

He also requested that the province provide him with support in terms of personnel to protect and check the gold during the mining process.

The Binh Thuan Department of Culture, Sports, and Tourism has yet to respond to his request letter.

Previously, T. had visited the headquarters of the Phan Thiet City administration and the department to seek approval for such gold mining, during which he was told to rewrite his request letter in accordance with prevailing regulations.

In related news, another man named Tran Van Tiep had earlier sought a green light from Binh Thuan authorities to mine 4,000 metric tons of gold in Tau Mountain, located in Tuy Phong District.

His gold exploration later yielded no results.

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