Contaminated water killing Kratie villagers

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Re: Contaminated water killing Kratie villagers

Post by Duncan »

We all know why they haven't blamed it on the trees stealing the oxygen.
Cambodia,,,, Don't fall in love with her.
Like the spoilt child she is, she will not be happy till she destroys herself from within and breaks your heart.
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Re: Contaminated water killing Kratie villagers

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MONDULKIRI
- Despite official declarations that no one has been poisoned by cyanide, some gold miners from the Chhong Phlas Mining Community in Mondulkiri have been ordered to stop work by the middle of the month.
It is unclear how many of the miners will be affected but there are fears that the entire community will be shut down by the authorities. In this case, the members of the community will have to pack up and seek work elsewhere, probably as migrant workers. A number of the local villagers are believed to have staked their houses for loans to set up as miners when the license was issued in 2015. The license is up for renewal at the moment.

June 4, 2018
Chong Phlas miners ordered to shutdown
Authorities in Mondolkiri province have given more than ten gold mining sites within the Chong Phlas Mining Community 15 days to shut down operations after concluding that they were not following the law.

The 15-day deadline was issued during a compliance push being carried out by Mines and Environment ministry officials in the wake of a poisoning case in Kratie province that left 13 people dead in Chetr Borei district, where villagers blamed gold mining run-off for the deaths despite the government officially stating that herbicide run-off and methanol-laced rice wine were to blame.

Mondolkiri deputy governor Choeng Sochantha, who joined the provincial working group to inspect mining operations, said that more than ten locations were given the deadline to cease all mining-related activities.

“We set the deadline at 15 days for more than ten gold mining places to shutdown because they broke the law,” Mr Sochantha said without explaining what laws were broken. “Our forces will go down there again and if they have not shut themselves down, our forces will do it for them,” he added.
https://www.khmertimeskh.com/50496723/c ... -shutdown/
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Re: Contaminated water killing Kratie villagers

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The Mondulkiri gold mining community at Chong Phlas has been refused license renewal for the moment, and was closed down by authorities as an apparent reaction to the poisoning outbreak downstream in Kratie last month.
However, the local miners deny using dangerous chemicals or breaking the law, and the authorities also continue to deny that the poisoning was connected to gold mining upriver. Even so, the mines have been closed and 800 families will have to find work elsewhere.
Weeks later, officials are still reportedly waiting on laboratory test results from the mining areas.

Community miners out of work
June 22, 2018
The Chong Phlas Gold Mining Community, where more than 800 families mine on 43 hectares of land in Mondolkiri, has been shuttered, leaving dozens without jobs.
Officials with the Environment and Mines Ministries descended upon the community in the wake of 13 people dying in Kratie province last month, which villagers there blamed on gold mining run-off from neighbouring provinces.

Although the government blamed herbicide run-off for contaminating the water that made villagers sick, the two ministries nonetheless carried out a compliance push in Mondolkiri and have now shuttered the entire community.

Yos Monirath, spokesman of the Mines Ministry, said yesterday that all mining operations inside the community, and those operating illegally outside of it, have been closed.

Mr Monirath said that samples taken from the mining sites are still being tested.
https://www.khmertimeskh.com/50503789/c ... t-of-work/
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Re: Contaminated water killing Kratie villagers

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Investigative article by Mongabay Environment site into the " Kratie mass poisonings", which occurred earlier this year in the north-east of Cambodia - Cambodian authorities were quick to blame the poisonings on rice wine, but local people have long suspected that the poison in the water was coming from gold mines upstream:

Gold mining suspected as cause of Cambodian mass poisonings
by Rod Harbinson on 17 August 2018
Image
In early May, a mass poisoning event in Chetr Borei district in the Cambodian province of Kratie killed at least 13 people and caused acute levels of sickness for up to 300 more.
An investigation led by Cambodia’s Minister of Industry and Handicraft Cham Prasidh revealed high levels of cyanide in a nearby river, which is the source of drinking water for communities in the region that were affected by poisoning. However, Prime Minister HE dismissed the claim, saying the poisoning was caused by rice wine and agricultural chemicals.
The Chetr Borei incident was reportedly followed by another mass poisoning of 80 Phnorng indigenous peoples in neighboring Mondulkiri. A resident interviewed for the report claimed that mining operations drilling upstream near the area’s water source was to blame.
In July, another poisoning incident was reported in which three people died and sixty others were hospitalized in Snuol, Kratie Province. Rice wine was again officially blamed as the cause...
https://news.mongabay.com/2018/08/gold- ... oisonings/
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Re: Contaminated water killing Kratie villagers

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UPDATE: The 'mysterious' water poisoning continues in Kratie province near Sambor. Cambodian authorities are investigating.
November 27, 2019
Kratie authorities inspect gold mine following fish deaths

The Kratie Provincial Mines and Energy Department yesterday inspected a Chinese gold mining company following reports of dead fish found in a nearby river.

Villagers believe that the fish died after toxic sludge from the mine in Sambor district flowed into the river following heavy rain over the weekend.

District Governor Sorm Sarith yesterday said villagers reported on Monday that they saw several dead fish floating in the river in Kbal Damrei commune’s O’Trakuon village.

“The villagers believe the deaths were caused by chemical waste from a mine which is owned by a Chinese company,” he said.

He added that experts from the mine and energy department visited the site where the company, Xing Yuan Kann Yeak, is mining for gold and took samples of the sludge and the water in the river for tests.

“We saw dead fish floating on the water surface but we do not yet know why they died,” Mr Sarith noted. “We are not sure if the fish died from chemicals from the sludge which leaked into the river.”

He said he instructed the village chief to inform villagers to temporarily stop using water from the river.

Sok Kirirath, the mines and energy department director, yesterday said that his officials and relevant authorities went down to inspect the mine and the river following the report on dead fish.

“We cannot conclude yet whether the fish died because of chemical waste from the gold mine or from other causes,” he said. “We have taken samples for laboratory tests, so we cannot make a conclusion until we get the results.”
https://www.khmertimeskh.com/50664306/k ... sh-deaths/
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Re: Contaminated water killing Kratie villagers

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Waste From Chinese Gold Mines Sickens Villagers, Kills Livestock and Fish in Cambodia
2019-12-19
Villagers in Cambodia’s Kratie and Mondulkiri provinces are voicing fears for their health following the release into rivers of toxic waste from Chinese gold mines that has sickened local residents and killed livestock and fish, local sources say.

Rong Cheng, a Chinese-owned company located in Mondulkiri’s Keo Seima district and protected by armed guards, is among the companies blamed for the pollution, sources said.

Speaking to RFA’s Khmer Service, local villager Saing Sary said that chemical run-off released by Rong Cheng has killed fish in nearby streams, and that cows and buffaloes have also died.

“My son was catching fish [in the polluted water], and his face and body became swollen,” he said. “Also, at least four to ten cows died, and because we could not sell their meat, we left them to decompose.”

Villagers in the district are losing their livelihoods but are afraid to stand up to the six Chinese companies that operate there, while authorities close down the smaller mines run by Cambodians but leave the Chinese companies alone, he said.

“We are sad because our animals are being killed,” he added.

Also speaking to RFA, another villager said that Chinese companies mining in the district have cut down villagers’ trees while building roads through the area, and appear to have been left by local authorities to do whatever they like.

“The authorities have closed down Cambodian mines, but allow the Chinese companies to continue to operate,” he said.

Calls to Rong Cheng and to Mondulkiri provincial spokesperson Moeung Sochantha rang unanswered this week.
https://www.rfa.org/english/news/cambod ... 71312.html
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