Late Cheng Mining Development, a Chinese-owned company, has been operating a gold mine inside Cambodia's Prey Lang Wildlife Sanctuary since early 2019, well before receiving their exploratory licence in March 2020 or extraction licence in September 2022. According to local villagers and satellite imagery analysis, the company began industrial-scale operations in early 2019 by taking over what was previously a smaller artisanal mining site. The company has diverted local streams for cyanide leaching to extract gold, potentially contaminating the Porong River which flows into the Chinnit River, a tributary of the ecologically important Tonle Sap Lake. Despite operating in a protected area that houses 55 threatened wildlife species and 80% of Cambodia's endangered indigenous trees, Late Cheng has expanded from 1,900 to over 4,200 hectares in 2023 alone, with leaching ponds now spilling beyond their concession boundaries into previously untouched forest.