Poisonous goldmine row: Residents file suit

Mar 21, 08 6:31pm

Residents of Kampung Baru Bukit Koman, in Raub, Pahang today filed a court application in a bid to stop work at a gold mine located a kilometre away from their village.

As a first step, the residents, represented by residents committee chairperson Wong Kin Hoong and three other applicants, filed a leave application at Kuala Lumpur High Court to hear their suit against the Department of Environment and Raub Australian Gold Mining Sdn Bhd.

bukit koman mining lake 310107The residents are complaining the use of cyanide in gold-mining operations by the mining company.

They want the court to declare that the Environmental Impact Assessment report submitted by the mining company to the DOE in 1996 did not comply with certain requirements of the Environment Quality Act.

They are up in arms over the project because they are living in extremely close proximity with the gold-mining area.

In a press statement today, Wong said the DOE had approved the project based on the preliminary EIA report in 1997.

Wong said that the application argued that the EIA was outdated and that the residents of Kampung Baru Bukit Koman had only learned of the DOE approval of the EIA report in early 2007.

Residents worried

Wong said that he would also try to impress upon the court that the DOE had wrongfully refused to ask the developer to seek a fresh EIA.

Among others, Wong is seeking the following from the High Court:

• A declaration to quash the DOE's approval of the preliminary EIA issued in 1997
• A declaration that a detailed EIA is required
• A declaration that the developers must obtain a detailed EIA before proceeding with gold-mining works

Wong said that their application also stated that there was an overall lack of information on what precautionary or preventive measures that the developer has taken to mitigate potential impacts of project.

"The residents are not assured that the use of cyanide would not be detrimental to their health and the environment," added Wong.

The suit marks the resident's last resort at seeking recourse after failing to convince the state government to intervene in the gold mining operations.