What is "xepon"

Xépôn, also known as Tchepone and Sepon, is a village in the Sepone administrative district of Savannakhet Province in the country of Laos. It was located approximately east of the intersection of the Sepon River and the Banghiang River. It was the target of Operation Lam Son 719 in 1971, an attempt by the armed forces of South Vietnam and the United States to cut the Ho Chi Minh Trail. The village now known as Old Xépôn (Xépôn Kao in Laotian) was destroyed. In the 1990s, gold mining began at the site, helped to create Lao's largest private industry. Expansion of mining in the area has dislocated indigenous peoples' villages around Old Xépôn.