Background
Raub is a town full of peacefully wealthy. Due to recently the emerging of Cyanide, the valley is deeply submerged into terrifying. Raub is place we live and growth up, our properties and home are all here in this little valley. There is no reason to move to other places. Mining processing facilities only two kilometers away from residential area, only across the street to be exact, why is the Pahang Mineral and Geoscience Department still approved the application to use this lethal chemical, Cyanide, to extract the gold?
Bukit Koman, a small and old village, born from the soil of gold mining, located inside Raub county, approximately contains four hundred families, totaling residents around three thousands. It is located right in the gold mining area, is indeed a ‘gold plated’ village.
The mining activity started on year 1898, but ceased on year 1963. During this time, the mining was fully controlled by Australian. During year 1970, thousands of hectares of mining land had transferred under the group of (gan mun wah). After he bought the land, occupied the most of it with palm oil but reserved two sectors totaling 600 hectares of the land. During year 1980’s, (gan mun wah) rent the reserved mining land to Chinese gold miner to mine the gold via gravity separation approach. During year 1990, the company taken the land back, but founded company to mine the gold by themselves.
Son of (gmw), Andrew Kam, created Peninsular Gold Limited company, which is listed in London Exchange, and wholly own Raub Australian Gold Mining Sdn. Bhd., fully responsible in the mining activity. The other shareholders including Pahang royal Princess, Tengku Puteri Seri Lela Manja and her ex-husband Mohd Moiz. Pahang Development Board (Perbadanan Kemajuan Negeri Pahang) is their partners.
Chronologically events
| 21st August 2006 | Raub Australian Gold Mining Sdn. Bhd. successfully obtained approval from Pahang Mineral and Geoscience Department to use Cyanide in the mining area inside Bukit Koman. |
| 4th December 2006 | After the villages got to know the lethalness and impact of the Cyanide, the villages formed Objection of Cyanide use in Gold Mining in Bukit Koman Committee, aggressively sending the SOS signal to all people for help, gathering help to start the bitter war with Cyanide to save the villages. At the same time, petition is also started and 10 thousands signatures are actually collected with the petition. |
| 2nd March 2007 | Pahang Menteri Besar Adnan Yaakob officiate the break soil ceremony of the Raub Australian Gold Mining Sdn. Bhd. Carbon-In Leach factory. VIP of the event including Pahang Princess ex-husband Mohd. Moiz and Raub Parliament YB Dato Dr. Ng Yen Yen. |
| May 2007 | The committee submitted letter to Prime Minister YAB Dato Abdullah Badawi, Minister of Ministry of Energy, Water and Communication YB Dato Lim Kim Aik and President of MCA, YB Dato Wong Ka Ting and request for attention in this matter, meet the committee for further discussion as well as presenting the memorandum including the signed petition of 10 thousands signatures. The memorandum also submitted to Raub Parliament YB Dato Dr Ng Yan Yan, Pahang MCA State Chief, YB Dato Chan Kong Choy, Chief of MCA Youth cum Bentong Parliament YB Dato Leow Chong Lai. But no respond was obtained. |
| July 2007 | Committee meet with President of Friends of the Earth Malaysia, Meena Raman in Penang for legal assistant |
| 21st March 2008 | Committee file a law suit with high court of Kuala Lumpur, requesting the court revert the approval of Pahang Mineral and Geoscience Department to Raub Australian Gold Mining Sdn. Bhd. to use Cyanide in the process of mining of gold in Bukit Koman. Malaysia Ministry of Environmental has been named first defendant and Raub Australian Gold Mining Sdn. Bhd. as second defendant. |
| February 2009 | Raub Australian Gold Mining Sdn. Bhd. started the mining process with Cyanide. Residents started to notice sting smell. Since then, many residents started to experience insomnia, vomiting, dizziness and other abnormal symptoms. The total number of report of abnormal symptoms has more than 200 cases. |
| 8th March 2009 | Hundreds of villages attended the Anti Cyanide Gathering and put up banner to reflect their determination to say NO to Cyanide. Some of the villages opt to migrate away from Bukit Koman to stay away from this lethal village. |
| 23rd March 2009 | Pahang Exco Dato Ho Kee Mum published the report after cursory investigation by department of environment, saying there is no smell of Cyanide is detected. |
| 25th March 2009 | Committee and ADUN Raub, Mr. Chong Shao Aun report the event to Anti Corruption, requesting to interfere with the process of gold mining using Cyanide of the mining company. |
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Villages of Bukit Koman choose to go for peaceful demonstration; due to their body has triggered the alarm of poisoning of Cyanide. Otherwise, there would not be more than 200 cases of abnormal symptoms. Villages really has no confidence in mining company and their promises that their operations would not pollute the environment as well as the water resources when the company clearly even cannot control the abnormal smell emitted from the mining processing facilities.
The mining company uses the Cyanide to mine the gold but cannot give any assurance to the villages has been unfair to the resident not only in Bukit Koman, but whole Raub even other adjunctive districts such as Lipis etc. IF, the Cyanide is leaked to the water resources, similar as the smell has leaked to the open air, then only after this the government put a stop in using the Cyanide, would that be a reasonable trade off or exchange or price to pay? The consequence will be everyone nightmare when the impact of Cyanide pollution will produce monstrosity children for the coming generations! Until then, everything would be too late.
What the villages want is a reasonable solution. The highest priority is to stop the Cyanide mining process similar to suicide slowly. No lip promises but black and white promises. Only the Cyanide mining process is stopped and leaves Bukit Koman forever, is the final answer that villages is expecting.
Unfortunately, that sincerity has not been seen from the government. How many more demonstration would require in order to see more positive responses?
What Is Cyanide
· sodium cyanide (NaCN)
· Physical State; Appearance
· White, hygroscopic crystalline powder, with characteristic odour. Odourless when dry.
· Cyanide solutions readily bond with gold, silver and other metals
· Usually stored and transported as a solid. It is stable when dry.
· Dissolve in water to produce toxic cyanide gas. HCN (Hydrogen Cyanide)
· Cyanide may also result in deforestation, soil erosion, land slides, and contamination of underground water.
One teaspoon of a 2% solution can kill a person.
· The substance decomposes rapidly on contact with acids, and slowly on contact with water, moisture or carbon dioxide producing hydrogen cyanide
· Cyanide is a powerful solvent that breaks down heavy metals – such as mercury, cadmium, chromium, and lead – that end up as waste products that need to be dumped.
· Chemical dangers
One teaspoon of a 2% solution can kill a person.
· Cyanide is highly toxic, rapidly acting, potentially deadly chemical
· The substance can be absorbed into the body by inhalation, through the skin and by ingestion.
· prevents the cells of the body from using oxygen. When this happens, the cells die.
· cause effects on the cellular respiration, resulting in convulsions and unconsciousness
· more harmful to the heart and brain than to other organs because the heart and brain use a lot of oxygen.
· 20ppm/ per cubic meter in air (mg/m3)
· Cyanide is the killing agent used in gas chambers.
· When the density of HCN is 20 ppm, after few hours human will experience symptoms of poison dead
· Total Cyanide composition on surface water must not be more then 0.2mg/L, when the Cyanide composition is more than 0.5mg/L, 20% of the fish will be dead in two hours, all fish will be dead in 24 hours.
· Notorious chemical weapons used in Second World War, has been widely used by Nazi in the detention facilities and channel the gas to chamber which is a counterfeit bath room. The weapon has kill millions of Jews.
· Has been considered potential terrorist weapon.
· Potassium Cyanide has been used in mercy killing. Subject will be dead in 10 seconds after the drug has been injected or taken via oral.
Although cyanide is lethal in small doses, many tons are used in mineral extraction.
The asserted benefits of mining do not outweigh the potential for permanent environmental damage.
Use of Cyanide in Mining Industries
- Carbon In Leach Gold Recovery Plant.
- Approximately 85% of the gold is recovered in the plant.
I. The crushed ore is fed to tanks of cyanide solution,
II. The gold is dissolved in the cyanide.
III. The pregnant solution is then transferred to a series of tanks, where carbon is added.
IV. The gold is adsorbed onto the surface of the carbon.
V. The carbon, with gold attached, is removed by screening.
VI. The gold bearing carbon is then introduced into a heated sodium hydroxide-cyanide-water solution where the gold is dissovled.
VII. This concentrated solution is passed through a series of electrowinning cells, where the gold quickly plates (in about 3 minutes) onto the stainless steel cathodes.
VIII. The gold is washed from the cathodes, with high pressure sprays, dried and melted, to be poured into molds for gold bricks, or ingots.
How does cyanide affect living organisms, environment and the communities
In a letter replying to Friend to Earth Malaysia by Pahang Mineral and Geoscience Department, En. Zulkifly Abu Bakar confirmed that the department has issued letter of approval on 21st of August, allowing the mining company using Cyanide in their mining process. This letter of approval is based on 10th clause of 1994 Mineral Development act. The duration is 1 year. The company can renew the approval after 1 year.
According to the reply, the mining company will use concentration of 350mg/L Cyanide solution to extract gold from the ore. Gold will be reclaimed via electrolysis. The solution in the vats will be recycled. Only purified water will be discharged to abandoned pond left over from previous mining activity.
The reply also pointed out that “once discharged to the abandoned pond, the pond water will contain approximately 0.008% of Cyanide. In the present of sunlight, the Cyanide percentage in the water will be less and less and become totally degraded. The water of the abandon pond will be recycled for subsequent extraction process.”
The reply again pointed out “Cyanide extraction has been widely use in mining industry, including developed country”
| Arguement | Facts |
| Purified water will be channeled to the abandoned lake of previous mining activity. The abandoned lake contains approximately 0.008% Cyanide. | According to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), composition in natural water should be controlled below 0.2 ppm. The Cyanide discharged to abandoned lake is 80ppm, which has exceeded the safe level over 400 times! PPM = Part Per Million. |
| Cyanide can breaks down in the presence of sunlight. | 1. In-order to breakdown into other substances, sufficient sunlight and oxygen in the air are needed. Unfortunately, presence of sunlight is always absence due to reasons such as overcast and haze, whereby the process of gold extraction is running 24 hours in 365 days. Cyanide content discharged into pond will accumulate day after day. 2. Both cyanide and acid-mine drainage can find their way into streams and rivers through accidental spills, discharges, dam overflows, and water runoff. It can also seep into groundwater. Leftover cyanide in very small concentrations can harm birds and other wildlife that drink mine pond wastewater. 3. Purified water container Cyanide discharged from the plan contains NH3-N. High concentration of this chemical will provide more nutrient to aquatic organism. This will in turn the increase production of algae which will in turn decrease the penetration of sunlight or visibility of the water. This will decrease the dissolve of oxygen in the water and directly threat the survivor of fish and other organism inside the water. The end result of this situation is that the water will be stink and form of ‘red tide’ or ‘algae bloom’. 4. According to the Mineral Policy Center, “mining and regulatory documents often state that cyanide in water rapidly breaks down in the presence of sunlight into largely harmless substances, such as carbon dioxide and nitrate or ammonia. However, cyanide also tends to react readily with many other chemical elements and is known to form, at a minimum, hundreds of different compounds.” Many of these breakdown compounds are generally less toxic than the original cyanide, but are still known to be toxic to aquatic organisms. 5. These breakdown compounds may persist in the environment for an unknown period of time, and there is evidence that some forms of these compounds can accumulate in fish and plant tissues. |
| If managed properly, mining with Cyanide is absolutely safe | In case of any mismanage or neglection, the consequence will be fully transferred to all the innocent villages, furthermore, there is no any party dare enough to guarantee that no accident is going happened. We trade the life of thousands of villages for the profit of certain private organization does not sounds like logical and fair. |
| Operation of Cyanide is in a closed environment. Chances of leakage or contamination is neglect able | The above figure shown an open pit Carbon in Leach process. Content in the vat is mixture of crash ore and sodium cyanide, which the process will generate a very toxic gas, Hydrogen Cyanide. The gas will waft in the air. Since February 2009, the air around the mining facilities is floated with stink chemical smell. Within a month, more than 200 abnormal symptom is reported. The quality of air has triggered the alarm to the people. |
| Mining facilities will bring more job opportunities to Raub | Most of the workers are foreign workers. According to the employed local people, after a period working in the mining facilities, there will be problem with the skin. |
| Water resources will not be contaminated | From year 1898 to year 1963, the mining company has dug seven interconnected mining well. These wells have depth ranging from 600 to 1200 feet, which has formed a network of underground water. Three of the wells are located right below the abandoned lake which the purified water containing Cyanide will be discharged. Furthermore, the Koman river, which runs across the mining will also poses great threats if leakage or contamination. Once that happened, the underground water would not be get away from it. (as figure show) |
| Gold Cyanidation (also known as the cyanide process or the MacArthur-Forrest process) are widely used even in developed countries. | Montana , The Czech Republic has banned the use of cyanide in mining, and both Turkey and Greece have made significant court rulings against issuing permits to mining interests whose projects propose the use of cyanide. The Mining Amendment (Cyanide Leaching) Bill 2000, which would prohibit ore processing by cyanide leaching in gold mining, was entered into the Parliament in New South Wales, Australia, in June 2000. Accidents keep on occurring even in developed countries, how can we judge that the approval for their license is accurate? |
| The mining facilities only two meter away from the residential area, in fact only across the street from residential area | Any form of industry must have distance more the 5 km The mining facilities and the ad juncture residential area, does not even have any buffer! How the approval can be obtained by mining facilities which uses first grade poison material, Cyanide, to process which is only few meters away from residential area? In fact close to 1.5 tan of Cyanide is used daily inside the facilities. Is the rules only applicable to certain people but exception can be applied to certain people? |
| Some of the villages and most of the people in Raub have been ignorant on the criticality of the issue. Some assume that this is the trick of someone who wanted to get to the top. | Protection of home was never a political or races or religious oriented. When the home is gone, health is gone and conscious is gone, who is in power is not relevant anymore. |
| Gold Cyanidation Process in Bukit Koman will never affect the village’s health and wealth. | Exposure to high levels of cyanide harms the brain and heart, and may cause coma and death. Exposure to lower levels may result in breathing difficulties, heart pains, vomiting, blood changes, headaches, and enlargement of the thyroid gland, redness and pain to the skin. Exposure to very low concentration of cyanide may cause cancer in people or animals. Can cause skin problem. |
Immediate signs and symptoms of exposure to cyanide
| Exposed to a small amount | Exposure to a large amount |
| o Rapid breathing o Restlessness o Dizziness o Weakness o Headache o Nausea o vomiting o Rapid heart rate o Insomnia o smells bitter almonds o weeping o snotting | o Convulsions o suffocation o Low blood pressure o Slow heart rate o Loss of consciousness o Lung injury o Respiratory failure leading to death |
Cyanide has been the cause of recent environmental disasters at U.S. mines eg
Colorado, Nevada, Montana, Idaho, California, South Dakota, South Carolina, Romania, Guyana, Canada, Kyrgyzstan, Papua New Guinea, Bulgarian, Resulting in massive fish kills and contaminated drinking water; and, no matter what processing method is used at the mine site, we cannot risk the release of even tiny amounts of cyanide into our waterways and fisheries.
Recent examples
1. Zortman-Landusky Mine, Montana, 1982: Fifty-two thousand gallons of cyanide solution poison the drainage that supplies fresh drinking water for the town of Zortman. A mine employee discovered the accident when he noticed the smell of cyanide in his tap water at home.
2. Summitville Mine, Colorado, 1992: Summitville gold mine was responsible for contaminating 17 miles of the Alamosa River with cyanide and other contaminants.
3. Kumtor Gold Mine, Kyrgyzstan, central Asia, 1998: A truck carrying 2 tons of sodium cyanide crashed into the Barskoon River. Two thousand six hundred poison cases and 4 deaths were reported in the aftermath.
4. Aural Gold Plant, Romania, Eastern Europe, 2000: A cyanide-laden tailings spill sent a toxic slug of cyanide and metals rolling down the Tisza River and into the Danube, killing aquatic wildlife and poisoning water supplies as far as 250 miles downriver.
5. In May 1998, six to seven tons of cyanide-laced tailings spilled from the Homestake Mine into Whitewood Creek in the Black Hills of South Dakota, resulting in a substantial fish kill.
6. The Dakota Mining Company bought the land from the federal government for just $5 per acre (under the General Mining Law of 1872), extracted about $69 million worth of gold over ten years, then filed for bankruptcy in 1998, leaving taxpayers with an estimated $40 million cleanup bill.
7. Before a voter initiative banned the use of cyanide in open pit, cyanide-leach mining in November 1998, Montana landowners downstream of the Golden Sunlight mine were forced to sell their property to Placer Dome Corporation after their drinking water was contaminated with cyanide.
8. The Kendall mine near Lewistown, Montana, has contaminated neighbors’ streams with toxic mine waste since 1995. Reclamation efforts at the mine have also depleted water supplies downstream from the company. Eight neighboring landowners have filed water rights complaints against the mining company.
9. The Golden Maple mine near Lewistown, Montana, was ordered to provide a neighboring rancher with an alternate water supply for both domestic and stock water needs after 77,000 gallons of cyanide contaminated the neighbor’s groundwater.
10. In a 1997 lawsuit settlement against Pegasus Gold, the company agreed to spend $34 million to study environmental damage to the groundwater surrounding the Zortman/Landusky mine, to construct an additional water treatment plant, to conduct a public health study, and other measures.
11. 1995 Omai Guyana Collapse of tailings dam.
12. 2000 Baia Mare Romania Collapse of tailings dam.
13. 2000 Tolukuma Papua New Guinea Helicopter dropped crate into rainforest.
Aftermath
- Forced to sell their property after their drinking water was contaminated with cyanide.
- Cyanide use and resulting accidents threaten private property rights and shift the responsibility for cleanup from mining companies to taxpayers.
- When a mining corporation declares bankruptcy, taxpayers are left with the economic burden of reclamation, leaving liabilities for future generations.
黄恭才发文告指出，由于大部分村民不很了解山埃的危害性，而是经过自行寻找资料后才发现山埃是一种剧毒物质，顿时十分担忧，才凝集村民的力量成立“反对山埃采金委员会”，积极向外界传达求救讯息。
不过，张竹生允许《独立新闻在线》刊登其父遗下的其中一则笔记，以显示张少平矢志反对山埃采金的决心。张少平在这张志期2007
张竹生表示，警方也没有通知他该联络哪位警员或医生。由于当时面对丧父之痛，心烦意乱的张竹生没有记下警官的名字。
他也指出，其实山埃采金不但危害武吉公满和劳勿居民，在从吉隆坡运载山埃到武吉公满，途经高速公路和住宅区的道路，若发生公路意外，而粒状山埃又遇水，剧毒将污染四周的环境。
张少平的骤然离世令村民深感悲愤及惋惜。村民张起写着“壮志未酬，反毒尚未成功，大家必须战斗到底”的布条送殡，向这位反毒斗士致敬，同时向山埃采金作沉默的抗议。
陈莲娣（右图）接受《独立新闻在线》访问时叙述，自从金矿业主使用山埃采金之后，他们从早到晚都间歇性地嗅到一阵异味，异味时薄时浓，导致他们喉咙发痒、呼吸困难，有时晚上嗅到异味，还会从睡梦中醒来。
她说：“我们简直就是有家归不得啊！”
