Mineral industry of Cambodia  In 2006, Cambodia's mineral resources remained, to a large extent, unexplored. Between 2003 and 2006, however, foreign investors from Australia, China, South Korea, Thailand, and the United States began to express their interest in Cambodia's potential for offshore oil and gas as well as such land-based metallic minerals as bauxite, copper, gold, and iron ore, and such industrial minerals as gemstones and limestone. The identified mineral resources in Cambodia were bauxite, carbonate rocks, natural gas, gemstones, gold, manganese, petroleum, phosphate rock, salt, silica, and zircon. With the exception of carbonate rocks and gemstones, the country's mineral resources were largely unexploited. To attract domestic and foreign mining companies to invest in the mining sector, the Law of Minerals Management and Mining of Cambodia was promulgated by the government on July 13, 2001. The Ministry of Industry, Mines and Energy (MIME) is the main government agency that implements the country's mineral law and policy. The MIME's Department of Geology and Mines and Department of Energy are responsible for developing the country's mineral resources, providing mining assistance to the private sector, and administering mining-related regulations and inspections. The Cambodian Development Council (CDC) is the government agency that grants exploration licenses to investors. If exploration is successful, investors are required to present a master project plan to the CDC before being granted a mining license. The amount of investment approved for mining projects by the CDC totaled $181 million in 2005. The mining and quarry sector contributed only 0.39% of Cambodia's gross domestic product in 2005. The sector employed an estimated 19,000 people and accounted for only 0.2% of the country's total employment in 2005. According to official statistics of the Department of Geology and Mines, the mining activities in Cambodia during the past 2 years involved the production of laterite blocks (red soil), limestone for cement manufacturing, sand and gravel, and crude stone for construction material. Other minerals, such as gemstones and gold, reportedly were mined in the central province of Kampong Cham and the northeastern provinces of Mondol Kiri and Ratanakiri. Production data for gemstones, gold, and limestone, however, were not available. Cambodia's mineral industry is still in its infant stage, and most mining companies are small-scale quarries that produce such construction materials as limestone, sand and gravel, and other construction aggregates.