Fears of cyanide poisoning grips village

Bede Hong | Feb 1, 07 4:45pm

THEY live next to a gold mine. While many would rejoice at such a prospect, the villagers of Bukit Koman in Raub feel that it is more of a curse than a boon.

Why?

Because a mining company has set up shop in the tiny hamlet and proposes to use cyanide for the gold extraction process.

“We are not against mining. Miners are businessmen. They earn their living. But to use cyanide...,” fumed pensioner Hue Fui How, who has been living in the village all his life.

Hue’s concern is not without basis. Cyanide's toxity is legendary. Exposure to high levels of cyanide is harmful to the brain and heart, and is known to cause coma or death.

Residents of the Chinese-majority rural enclave near Raub, Pahang, who spoke to malaysiakini recently on the prospect of residing by a humdrum of mining activity, have started a petition in an effort to stop cyanide usage.

It is estimated that about 2,000 villagers live in the affected area.

Bukit Koman, located just outside the boundaries of the Batu Talam constituency, was the mining hotbed until the 1960s, when gold prices collapsed.

Miners then had used the placer mining technique, which while creating large amounts of silt, did not involve the use of cyanide. A lake has since formed at what remains of the site.

Raub Australian Gold Mining Sdn Bhd, a subsidiary of London-based Peninsular Gold Ltd, has been given the task to extract gold from tailings (waste material from previous mining) and oxide deposits from the bottom of the lake.

An estimated 70 percent of gold have been mined using placer mining. To extract the remaining gold, cyanide leaching, which involves using electrolysis, will be used.

The company has obtained environmental and mine approvals, and barricades have since been set up around the lake, with guards cordoning off area.

Company officials could not be reached by malaysiakini for comments.

Wells connected to mines

In a written response last December to queries by environment watchdog Sahabat Alam Malaysia, the Pahang Mineral and Geoscience Department confirmed that a letter of authority to mine the area was approved in Aug 21 last year, and that the company was permitted to mine gold using cyanide.

The department found the methods to be used by the mining company as safe. Villagers however say the department’s assurance is not enough.

“This cyanide use is the last thing residents here want,” said Hue.

Since the closure of the original mine, the area, located just minutes away from Raub town, has been a tranquil locale. He said many homes of Kampung Bukit Koman are located near the banks of the lake.

“How can you grant a licence? They’re only two metres from the nearest house,” he added.

Including Taman Sentosa and Kampung Sg Lui, some 400 families reside in areas adjacent to the lake, from which the mining operations will take place.

Scattered through the area also are abandoned mining wells. The wells, part of the tunnelling efforts by previous miners, are interconnected and permeated with water.

Three of the wells run under the lake, while the rest are scattered near the district hospital, a school and both Kampung Bukit Koman and Kampung Sg Lui.

Villagers say that water wells, which are frequently used, share the same water source as the mining wells.

“If any cyanide found itself into the ground, it will seep into the water source. Cyanide is so toxic that micro-organism does not break it down. So it can make its way deep into the ground. Villagers might end up taking in the chemical,” said Gan Chew Yan, a postgraduate chemistry student who grew up in the area.

“Cyanide is extremely soluble in water and the effect long lasting. Any spill would mean an environmental disaster for the area,” she said.

Villagers have begun collecting signatures to be presented to the Prime Minister’s Department.

So far some 3,000 signatures have been collected, said the committee chairperson Voon Kim Soon. Voon said the committee is confident that it would get an additional 7,000 signatures.

He said the priority was to stop the use of cyanide, not the closure of the mine: “There are too many people living too near the lake where the mining will occur.”

Still awaiting reply

In an interview last September, with Australian business magazine Resourcestocks, Peninsular Gold director Andrew Kam Tai Yeow, said the processing plant is estimated to cost US$8-10 million.

The company expects a general cash flow of US$7.5 million from the Raub site annually. Operations is expected to begin late this year.

Andrew Kam’s father, Kam Woon Wah, had formerly served as MCA secretary general. His last post with the party was as the disciplinary board chairperson.

Kam could not be reached for comments.

Last week, the committee released a media statement, lamenting government approval was given without consulting local residents.

"We have been denied our rights because we weren’t given a chance to respond despite the fact that we’re the nearest residents to the project site,” the four-page statement reads.

“We urge the government to scrutinise the developer’s detailed Environmental Impact Assessment report in full and for this document to be released to residents and the public,” it continued.

According to villager Mustapha Hussin (left in pic)of Kampung Sg Lui, who serves as committee secretary, villagers had approached local MCA leaders to raise the issue to the Pahang state government.

The committee had also sent a letter appealing MCA deputy president Chan Kong Choy for help and is still awaiting reply, said Mustapha.

“My personal concern is the cyanide. It is a potent chemical. The Nazis used it when they had a go at the Jews in World War Two,” said Hue.

“Millions. Millions killed! Do you want us to end up as statistics?” he decried.