Cambodia’s government has suspended plans to demolish the homes of people living around a proposed Australian mine site.

The threatened forced eviction of local people living around the OzMinerals site has been shelved for now, with the Melbourne-based company finding a substantial gold deposit in Cambodia’s Mondulkiri province.

OzMinerals will further exploring the viability of the gold deposit.

The Cambodian government wants small scale local miners and residents to leave the potentially lucrative site and had planned to demolish or burn their houses.

OzMinerals says the people do not yet need to move and has asked that they be treated with dignity and respect.

The government is now aiming to prevent the small scale miners from working by restricting their access to toxic mining chemicals through spot checks on roads into the area.