Guyana: Gold Mine and Residents Up in Arms Again
8/19/99
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Title: ENVIRONMENT-GUYANA: Gold Mine and Residents Up in Arms Again
Source: InterPres Service
Status: Copyright 1999, contact source for permission to reprint
Date: August 19, 1999
Byline: Bert Wilkinson
GEORGETOWN, Aug 19 (IPS) - Harry Lallbachan, 42, cultivates a small
piece of land along the western Essequibo River, downstream from Omai
Gold Mines.
Like most of the few hundred people who live in this community,
Lallbachan depends on the 450 km-long river for drinking water,
fishing and other domestic uses.
But he says his world changed on Aug 19, 1995 when a dam holding 30
months of cyanide-tainted mining waste sprung leaks at several points,
dumping more than 3.2 million cubic metres of the substance into the
country's largest waterway.
Once the dam broke, parliament ordered an immediate closure of mining
operations and declared the area an environmental disaster zone.
It allowed operations to recommence after six months, after a
commission of inquiry had taken evidence about the spill and amidst
calls from opposition parties and environmental groups for the mine to
be closed permanently.
But seemingly lost in all this over the years was the voice of more
than 23,000 people who live in communities downstream from the mine,
owned by Cambior Inc of Montreal, Canada and Golden Star Resources of
Denver, Colorado.
For years residents, many of them indigenous Amerindians, have been
complaining about developing skin rashes and other health problems
they blame on daily contact with the river located about 140 kms west
of the city.
The residents say the authorities have turned a deaf ear to their
complaints and the company has ignored them, disclaiming
responsibility for those illnesses.
Many say they suspect periodic and legally permitted discharges of
treated waste the company vows is safe, could be the reason for these
illnesses.
"My entire body has rashes all over and I get really sick, " says
Lallbachan." I have tried several doctors, including those from the
U.S army which visited the area and even they don't know what is wrong
with me. Their ointments and medicines don't work. "
The farmer spoke this week as lawyers for residents were filing a writ
and statement of claim against Omai. They are asking for 100 million
dollars in damages on behalf of the 23,000 persons who are dependent
on a river they fear is still polluted.
" This is what you call environmental racism, " says Lovern Benn, a
mother of two, whose two-year-old child has already developed rashes
on the arms and other parts of the body.
Lawyers moved to the local courts just days before the fourth
anniversary of the Aug 19 spill and also just in time to beat the
expiration of the statutes of limitations to file their case.
As they filed, about 500 residents, transported across two rivers to
be at the court house, held placards and called for justice.
A Dutch group, the International Union for the Conservation of
Nature, provided the money to bring the residents out from their
communities.
The move to the local courts follows the dismissal of a case in the
Canadian courts last year brought by Canadian environmental groups.
The organisations had sought to have the company face charges in a
Canadian jurisdiction where fines are much higher than those imposed
by juries in Guyana. A judge ruled against them, hence the hurry to
beat the August deadline for filing, says Attorney Mortimer Coddette.
Barring Tuesday's demonstrations in downtown Georgetown, almost
nothing is carried in the local media about the plight of riverain
residents.
Richard Bowen, 65 of Riversview, 55 kms downstream from Omai, contends
that the river is definitely polluted and that about 10 percent of his
community of 650 persons is down with some form of illness everyone
associates with the 1995 spill.
" We have men in our area who have become impotent. We worry about the
next generation and about some of the women in our village. The men
can't do what they have to do. The company should be made to stop
using cyanide or to be forced to leave the country permanently, " says
Bowen a village leader.
For its part, Omai spokesperson Seeta Mohamed argues that the company
is not responsible for any illness among residents, saying there was
never any threat to life even at the height of the spill because the
waste was treated and met Canadian and U.S safety requirements.
" We are not responsible. This suit is being filed here because they
lost in the Canadian courts last year. We conduct water quality tests
of the river every week and it is meeting international standards, "
says Mohamed.
The class action apart, local lawyers have persuaded hundreds of
individuals to pursue claims in the courts.
As the company with the largest single foreign investment in Guyana -
253 million dollars- authorities have recognised the firm's
contribution to the economy estimated at 25 percent of the Gross
Domestic Product (GDP).
More than 1,000 persons are employed at the mine, 90 percent of the
workers are Guyanese. The company produces 300,000 ounces of gold
per year and has been able to survive the current price crisis in the
industry primarily because most of its production has been presold.
It aims to open a similarly large mine in neighbouring Suriname, but
the Maroons - descendants of runaway slaves - say they are not
impressed with its safety record and are worried that what happened in
Guyana four years ago could also happen in Suriname.
(END/IPS/bw/cb/99)