Protests against gold mine

Prague, January 28th - The Cyanide “leakage” which killed tones of fish in the Czech river Labe (Elbe) recently has re-focused public attention throughout central and Eastern Europe to the environmental and human dangers associated with this toxic chemical, especially when it spills in to a nearby river or tributary. The Czech ecological calamity has heightened fears in the region of similar “accidents” involving cyanide re-occurring.

For instance, in Bulgaria citizens of the future EU member state and environmental organizations are mobilizing protests against the surreptitious plans to introduce cyanide leaching process into country’s gold extraction industry by a foreign mining company: the Canadian based Dundee Resources. Apparently, unfazed by the EU’s recent tightening up of legislation* related to the management and safe disposal of mining waste known as “tailings” which also often contain cyanide the Canadian firm Dundee Precious Metals and its Bulgarian branch, Chelopech Mining, are planning never the less to proceed with the expansion of the Chelopech gold and copper mine. NGOs suspect the company may be attempting to introduce Cyanide leaching mining into the gold processing in a less than transparent manner by not specifically mentioning the chemical in their EIA (Environmental Impact Assessment) report. As well, locals are concerned their water supply might be contaminated further downstream if an accident happens and are also upset that the planned mine expansion is being carried out without the proper consultations by the company.

Despite the controversy surrounding the project the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) has already allocated 10 million USD to assist in the financing of the mine’s projected expansion. Yet environmentalists and NGOs in the region such as CEE Bank watch are questioning why the EU taxpayer is footing the bill for a gold mine which seemingly lacks public support in the region. When the news that Chelopech Mining planned to use cyanides, emerged at the end of last year, it provoked alarm among local people and NGOs and cast doubts about the EBRD’s justification for its involvement in the project. The mine expansion has also drawn attention and even tested Bulgarian government’s commitment to meet the EU’s rigorous environmental laws and standards in addition to the stringent democratic credentials it must earn known as “the Copenhagen criteria” in order to join the EU. The likely target date for Bulgarian and Romanian accession into the EU is 2007.

So far Bulgarian NGOs assert the public information and consultation process that has been held was limited to the villages in the immediate environs of the mine, with the cities downstream of the Maritsa River overlooked or left out of the loop by the company. The future of the mine project is in the hands of the Bulgarian Ministry of Environment and Waters.

Konstantin Ditchev from the local organization called Green Balkans in the city of Plovdiv, said: “More than a million people in Bulgaria rely on Maritsa water for drinking and irrigation. If a cyanide spill took place at Chelopech, the Topolnitza water reservoir is the only barrier before the pollution would reach the regions of Pazardjik, Plovdiv and Haskovo and other populated areas. The same reservoir overflowed this summer and threatened to flood Plovdiv, the second city of Bulgaria. Chelopech Mining needs to sort out its emergency action plans and present them to the public and to the responsible institutions before any permit is granted.”

Fidanka Bacheva, an activist with Za Zemiata/CEE Bank watch Network, added: “Amazingly the EBRD considers this to have been an ‘extensive public consultation’ yet it is hiding behind the commas of Bulgarian law. It’s disgraceful that the EBRD tried to paint this investment as an environmentally positive one by studiously avoiding the mention of cyanides in its project documentation for Chelopech.”

In a related mining development, Dundee Precious Metals’ is also seeking a loan from the EBRD for an approximately EUR 50 million project to develop an open-pit gold mine near Krumovgrad in the East Rhodopi mountains in Bulgaria know for their unique landscape. This project recently received a ‘silent denial’ from the Ministry of Environment and Water due to strong public opposition.