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Misanet.com / IPS, 1 November - One morning, the inhabitants of Abekoase, a community in Tarkwa, a mining town in the western region of Ghana, stumbled across a disheartening sight when they went to the river to fetch water. The river was awash with large amount of fish stock, crabs and other aquatic life floating on the water: dead. A dam at the nearby gold mine had ruptured, spewing thousands of cubic metres of wastewater contaminated with cyanide and heavy metals into the Asuman River, the main source of drinking water for the Abekoase community, as well as for Huni Village and several other hamlets along the river. Stephen Yirenkyi, senior Environmental Coordinator of Goldfields Ghana Limited, a South African company, has confirmed the incident, which occurred on 16 October. "It's true. There has been a cyanide spillage here and we are meeting members of the communities to see how best we can resolve the issue," he says. Richard Graene, Managing Director of Goldfields Limited, also admits: "My company regrets this accident has happened. How much cyanide was spilled we do not know. But we saw it early and shut off the pump. The spillage occurred at 3 a.m. and we informed the villagers at 4:30 a.m. and by mid-day we started sending them tankers with water." Although the country's Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has made no official comment on the spill, the officer in charge of the EPA in the Western Region of Ghana, Irene Heathcote, said "please call my boss in Accra (the capital of Ghana)". But the boss, Allotey, acting head of Ghana's EPA, could not be reached. Ten days after the spill, the Minister for Environment, Dominic Fobih, admitted the incident but denied that the cyanide spillage was so serious. Masses of dead fish along the river appear to confirm the worst fears about the level of cyanide contamination, which observers say could be the worst environmental disaster in the West African country. But Graene insists that the cyanide that found its way into the river was "insignificant and could not have been injurious to aquatic life let alone human life" When asked how insignificant portions of cyanide could kill plants, birds, crabs and fish, he responded: "We put in chlorine instantly and that's the responsible thing to do to neutralise the toxicity of the cyanide until you determine the level of cyanide in the water. I can swear it was the chlorine that killed the fish and not the cyanide." - We did some testing with EPA and there was some cyanide in the river but low levels, he said. "Cyanide is not as bad as people make it seem. It's just because it was used in the gas chambers some years ago so it sounds really bad in the ear. These villagers dump their excreta into river and that should be the problem for them because this is the water they drink. There is so much faecal coliform in the river and that for me is the problem not the cyanide in the water," Graene said. But, Abdulai Dramani, an environmental specialist with the Africa branch of the Third World Network (TWN), said "this is a futile attempt to divert from the real problem. Why has Graene waited to raise this problem of faecal coliform now? His company has been with the community since the early 1990s." Scientists fear the cyanide and heavy metal residue from the spill could remain for decades, thus posing serious health and environmental threat to the people in the area and surrounding towns. Medical authorities also believe that the pollution of the river Asuman and its tributaries with cyanide could have a longer-term impact on human health. Dr. Emmanuel Crentsil, a medical consultant in the area, explained, "it is possible that the cyanide and other heavy metals may have been carried into farmlands by runoffs and this may enter the food chain." He said, "the people who drank the contaminated water and others who consume food laced with cyanide are not going to die now, but the effects will manifest with time and it can even happen tomorrow - cancers, miscarriages, and nervous problems." It is the second time in five years that cyanide from a foreign-owned gold mine has caused an environmental disaster in the same town, adding a knot to the string of mining-related environmental disasters. Tarkwa happen also to have the highest concentration of mining firms in the country. In June 1996 cyanide spilled from Teberebie Gold Mine into the river Angonabena also in Tarkwa, killing fish and destroying vast stretches of farmland. Villagers who came into contact with the water sustained severe leg injuries. Nine villages were left without drinking water and did not receive compensation either. This second environmental disaster, caused by mining, has fuelled the fears of environmental activists who have been up in arms against mining companies and the Ghanaian government for their disregard for high environmental performance standards. In a bid to attract foreign investment in the mining sector the former government instituted one of the most liberal investment mining code in Africa. Environmentalists and even government officials have begun to express worries that there has been too much concessions for little returns. Ghana has regained its former name of the Gold Coast with an annual output of around 50,000 tonnes, making it Africa's second largest gold producer after South Africa. Gold has overtaken cocoa as the country's biggest foreign exchange earner, contributing 60 percent of the hard currency. However, beneath the figures hides the fact that gold contributes a paltry two percent of the gross domestic product (GDP), say critics, because foreign mining companies are allowed numerous financial concessions and tax breaks in order to attract investment into the sector. - The mining sector still remains a tight economic enclave with virtually no links to other sectors, says Thomas Akabzaa, a geologist who has written a book on the mining sector and affected communities in Ghana for the TWN. For instance, the existing mining law allows mining companies to monitor their own environmental performance, the results of which are designated confidential and therefore not accessible to the public. A section of the law reads, "the environmental audit report shall not be available for public inspection unless agreed to by the holder." A current parliament debate to alter the mining law has still left the clause intact and non-governmental organisations (NGOs) are vigorously campaigning to have it deleted. This provision in the law, according to Dramani, virtually ties the hands of activists since companies' environmental reports are locked up in file cabinets, denying the affected communities the knowledge of what is happening to their environment and their health. According to him, the government has at no time within the last decade come out with a report of its own on the environmental performance of the mining companies. Kofi Pare, a 28-year old resident of Abekoase, called on the United Nations, European Union and other international officials and conservationists to investigate the legal and financial implications of the spill affecting his community. - When disaster of this magnitude happens in Europe it is news and all the big organisations and individuals rush there to show their love or issue statements but when it happens in Africa its business as usual. This is not fair, Pare added. Joshua Awuku Apau of the Greenearth organisation based in Accra also said the use of cyanide in mining poses an unacceptable risk to human health and the environment. - There is the need for long-term monitoring programme along the whole river system, but there is still a risk of another catastrophe as long as cyanide is being kept behind a dam which is often too weak, he stressed. "The mining industry must learn that clean rivers and healthy ecosystems are more precious than gold." By Linus Atarah, IPS
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