WACAM, human rights and mining advocacy
nongovernmental organisation, has called on the Government to investigate the extent of the cyanide spillage at Newmont Ghana Gold Limited (NGGL) Ahafo Mine since the Company has sought to downplay it.
A statement Mr Daniel Owusu-Koranteng, Executive Director of WACAM, signed on Saturday said the cyanide was spilled into River Asunua, which flowed into River Subri and affected residents of Kantinka; Afua Serwakrom;
Norbertkrom; Kyeikrom; Bronikrom; Lawyerkrom; Kwamebourkrom and a host of other hamlets but Newmont in their press release on October 12 2009 said: "Newmont Ghana's Ahafo Mine has contained and neutralised within its mine site, a minor overflow which occurred at its processing plant."
WACAM said: "The spillage was identified on the dawn of Saturday 10th October 2009 by community people when they found many dead fishes floating on their river. They then reported the incident to officials of the company immediately.
The statement said: "The cyanide spillage has exposed the weaknesses in the environmental management plans and the Emergency Response strategies of Newmont Ahafo Mine because the company could not detect the cyanide spillage
when it occurred and it took the sacrifice of community people, our activists, the Assemblyman of the area and other volunteers to disseminate
information on the spillage as quickly as possible to the communities, chiefs and other stakeholders to avoid fatalities.
WACAM faulted Newmont for not stating in their press release the time it communicated the spillage to the "Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the Minerals Commission because mining companies are required to report cyanide spillages to the Regulatory Agencies immediately when they are detected".
The statement said: "To describe a cyanide spillage which had killed many fishes and other life forms in water bodies as a minor overflow which was contained and neutralised clearly indicates the efforts by Newmont to mask the magnitude of the spillage and downplay its real effects. It would be helpful to mention that despite the efforts to clean the affected river
of dead fishes, many dead fishes were still floating on the river on Tuesday
(13th October 2009) which was the fourth day after the detection of the spillage."
WACAM accused Newmont of peddling untruth in its press release, saying: "The Media Release of Newmont stated that "Cyanide is only harmful
to human beings at levels of 20ppm and above." What Newmont quoted as the harmful level of cyanide to human beings is 100 times the permissible standard of the Ghana Environmental Protection Agency for free cyanide. Free
Cyanide concentration of 1ppm can cause death and free cyanide concentration of 20ppm (parts per million) would kill instantly. The Ghana Environmental Protection (EPA) and the US EPA permissible standard for Free Cyanide is
0.20ppm. Ghana EPA's standard for Total Cyanide is 1.0ppm and 0.6ppm for Weak Acid Dissociable (WAD) cyanide as quoted from the US EPA Review of
Newmont of Newmont Ahafo South Project EIA by John Hillenbrand. It is unethical to communicate untruths that have serious health implications to
the public as part of Newmont's image saving strategy."