Saxakali Magazine 2:2 The Cyanide Spill Continues...

Saxakali Magazine V2N2
Environmental Issues:

The following article is based on an interview with Gustav Jackson, a Guyanese geologist, environmentalist and activist with Rainforests Consultants Association (RAFCA) of Maryland, USA, on June 2nd, 1996.

On January 8th, 1996, a five-member commission of inquiry with ties to the government, military, banking and business issued its report on the Omai spill of August 19th, last year. Omai is listed as one of the five major disasters of 1995, however, it came as no surprise to many Guyanese that the January Commission failed to find the cause of the spill. This means no one is liable, with the assumption being that it was an "accident." Interestingly, the spill from the tailings pond allowed OGML to continue operations in six months, whereas before they had threatened that if they were prevented from discharging the pond, they would have to shut down operations entirely around the same time that the August "accident" occurred.

A month after the spill, the company boasted that they’ll be back to work in six months, and sure enough, they were. The January Commission did not include a clean-up plan for the August 19th spill. A smaller spill in Summerville, USA took four years and millions of dollars to clean-up. OGML officials have placed aside half a million dollars to pay off residents for three months of damages. Their lack of a clean up plan displays a blatant disregard for the river and people who depend on it for survival.

It came as no surprise to find that the January Commission did not recommend any future safeguards, nor any provision for enforcement for present environmental standards. The negligence of OGML officials in failing to monitor the level of cyanide at the bottom of the tailings pond, and in keeping the level at eight times the safety limit specified in the company’s own Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) guidelines have been whitewashed. So too was evidence suggesting the lower standards of design used by Knight Piesold, the engineering consulting firm, and the weaker materials used in constructing the tailings pond by OGML.

It came as no surprise to find that the January Commission recommended that OGML re-open the mine immediately. A further callous disregard for local human life by both government and company officials was revealed in the events following the re-opening of the mine in January 1996. In the first week of February, OGML got permission from the government to could go ahead and dump waste from the Fennel Pit (named after David Fennel, the CEO of the company) directly into the Essequibo river, with the condition that they warn local residents before the do so. US law requires that mining companies have zero discharge, yet the Guyana government refuses to put even a limit on the amount of discharge OGML is allowed to dump into the Essequibo river. Their actions represent a willful killing of the Essequibo.

Their permission is not negligence or ignorance on the part of PPP-CIVIC administration - it is bureaucratic neo-colonial state capitalism, a process in which the local people themselves become expendable for "national" (i.e., personal) benefit. The government and OGML have both shown their determination to extract the highest possible profit from Guyana’s resources, regardless of the cost to the local environment and people.

OGML started dumping the same concentrated cyanide-tainted water that was part of the August spill into the Essequibo from March 1st, 1996 to May 1996. Cyanide is being deposited as far away as Saxakali beach on the Essequibo river. OGML officials claimed they told local people of the discharge, but many local residents said they did not receive any warning. When questioned about the discharge, company officials said that they have temporarily stopped the dumping; no reason was given.

The Essequibo river is in danger of being destroyed for an eternity of 100,000 to 150,000 years, because of the cyanide laded mud and water dumped into it by OGML. Many thousands of local residents live in fear of the river. Residents in Bartica, a town 90 miles downstream from the plant, don’t bath or swim in the river anymore. Many complain of skin rashes and other symptoms associated with toxic pollution. Many others are scared to eat fish from the river. Hatred and distrust of the company and government runs deep among local people.

In light of the problems caused by OGML, it is revealing to learn that the PPP-CIVIC administration recently completed signing another deal with an American mining company, with a history of toxic dumping in the US, to operated an equally large gold (i.e., cyanide) mine not far from OGML and two miles north of Bartica. The Essequibo is certainly doomed as two cyanide mines will soon be operating on the river.

However, there is resistance. The National Committee for Defence Against Omai, an umbrella committee of grassroots and indigenous organizations, and PIRA, a Montreal based public relations firm, sent a mis en demeur to the majority owner of OGML, the Canadian company, Cambior, with the intention of formally bringing a $227 million lawsuit on the anniversary of the August 19th spill. The money will be used to pay the 15,000 residents affected for long term damages, to fund an independent monitoring organization, and so on. There is a need for funds to pay court costs, lawyers fees, etc., for the lawsuit For more information on how you can help, contact Saxakali and other organizations listed in this issue.

Press Release

9th May, 1996

Guyanese Environmental Community

Supports Legal Action in Quebec Canada and

Demands Accountability From Omai Gold Mines

Limited for

All Damage Done to People and the Environment

"Development Must Not Be At The

Expense And Lives of Indigenous Peoples"

On August 20, 1995, Guyana and the world awoke to a mining disaster at the Omai gold mine, the largest open pit mine in South America, where the rupture of a tailings dam released 839 million gallons of waste water laced with cyanide and other heavy metals into the Omai and Essequibo rivers of the Amazon river basin. The amount of waste water released was reported to be the equivalent of a one kilometer high tank with a base the length and width of a football field.

Omai Gold Mining Operations: A Continuous Disaster

Yet this was not the first problem residents of Guyana have had with the Omai gold mine. Residents have reported injury and illness as a result of two earlier discharges of waste water into the environment. Despite the fact that Omai commissioned its own Environmental Impact Statement and did not employ the best available technology for environmental protection, Omai has proved unable or unwilling to abide by even their own standards. In fact, experienced environmental specialists have referred to Omai’s operations in Guyana as an ongoing disaster even before the August 1995 disaster.

Omai has gone so far as to try and minimise the disaster by calling it "a major industrial accident" thus undercutting the government of Guyana’s attempts to solicit international help in independently investigating the situation.

It is unacceptable to allow Omai to operate in a manner that endangers and harms the health, safety, and welfare of people and the environment. Despite the call from nongovernmental, grass roots, and environmental groups in Guyana for Omai to present and adhere to a credible plan to clean up the environment, including ground water, and institute a system of zero discharge of effluent, as is required in the United States, to this day Omai has ignored these requests.

"Our demands have not changed," says Vivian Fredericks, who convened the National Committee for Defense Against Omai under the invitation of the National Amerindian Council immediately after the August 1995 disaster, "development must not be at the expense and lives of indigenous peoples."

Riverain Residents’ Case Brought To Cambior’s

Headquarters in Canada

Environmental and grass roots organizations throughout the world have been following events in Guyana regarding the Omai gold mining disaster and the Omai gold mine. Omai’s intransigence in acknowledging damage done to the riverain people and environment of the Essequibo plus decisions to continue releasing effluent into the Omai and Essequibo rivers led to a decision by environmental organizations based in Canada to pursue legal action in Canada, where the principle shareholder, Cambior is based.

The action taken has met approval from the undersigned groups. If, after further investigation, Omai is found to have acted intentionally, punitive damages will be requested.

The Omai Mineral Agreement

The original agreement between Omai Gold Mine and the government of Guyana has failed to protect the health, safety, and welfare of the Guyanese people as promised. Furthermore, the agreement has shifted the cost of any environmental protection rules enacted after the agreement and exceeding those in Quebec, Canada to the government of Guyana. Therefore, the undersigned groups call on the government of Guyana to renegotiate the contract to include provisions for zero discharge of effluent, independent monitoring and greater returns to Guyana to compensate the country for the environmental risks it has undergone and is undergoing.

In the event that Omai Gold Mines Limited does not meet the demands set forth in litigation in Canada, the undersigned groups are also considering filing suit as a Third party beneficiary to the Mineral Agreement because of the failure of Omai to abide by environmental standards contained within the agreement.

National Committee for Defence Against Omai

The National Amerindian Council (NAC)

Guyana Organization of Indigenous Peoples (GOIP)

Amerindian Peoples Association (APA)

Red Thread

Rainforests Consultants Association (RAFCA)

Canadian-Guyana Legal Defence Fund

Public Interest Research Assoicates (PIRA)

Saxakali

Omai Update:

A monthly report prepared by Public Interest Research Associates (PIRA) of Montreal to update financial analysts on events in Guyana.

For more information call (514) 393-3883.

10 May 1996

Guyanese group takes action against Cambior

Globe and Mail, 10th May 1996, p. B3

"A Guyana-based lobby group has taken the first step toward legal action against gold producer Cambior Inc. over its alleged role in the Omai disaster.

The Guyanese National Committee for Defence Against Omai, an umbrella organization formed in the wake of the cyanide tailings spill last August has sent Cambior chief executive officer Louis Gignac a so-called mise-en-demeure seeking damages of $226.7 million. The group claims 155,000 people were affected."

Cambior dismisses activists case

Montreal Gazette, 10th May 1996, p. B3

"Billions of liters of cyanide

Dermod Travis of Montreal's Public Interest Research Associates, which represents the committee in Canada, charged the company with various offences that allegedly preceded the August 19 spill of 2.8 billion liters of cyanide laden slurry from Omai's tailings pond into the Guyanese ecosystem.

Gignac lashes out

Asked what caused the breach - a central question which was not answered by the commission's report - Gignac said that was too complex an issue 'to give an idiotic answer.' Pressed, though, he blamed 'a combination of design flaws (in the dam's wall) and events.'"

24th May, 1996

Omai pumps cyanide tailings into Essequibo River

Platt's Metals Week, 6 May 1996, p. 13

"Omai Gold mine, managed by Montreal-based Cambior Inc., has pumped several million gallons of cyanide-laced tailings into the Essequibo River over the past two months according to general manager Rejean Gourde."

12 clauses of Omai contract with Guyana government violated

Kaiteur News, 17 May 1996, p. 24

"A new twist in the Omai cyanide incident is being introduced with a Canadian-based agency - the Canadian-Guyana Legal Defence Fund - about to file a lawsuit in Quebec against Cambior, the majority shareholder in Omai.

US attorney Dennison Smith argued that Omai had violated at least 12 clauses which allow the Guyana Government to rescind its contract with the mining company. He said, 'Omai was shifting the cost of environmental protection on Guyanese.'"

And so it begins...

Montreal Mirror, 16 May 1996, p. 9

"In another blow to Montreal mining giant Cambior inc., a U.S. government telegram obtained by the Mirror counters claims by Cambior CEO Louis P. Gignac that the company cooperated fully with the Guyanese government last August.

According to an internal telegram, sent Aug. 24 from the U.S. embassy in Guyana to the U.S. state department, Cambior was 'outraged' by the Guyanese government's plans to prohibit the resumption of its mining operations at Omai after the spill on August 19."

Save the Essequibo River