No
Donlin Gold Mercury Mine in Alaska:
A
mega mercury “gold” mine with a list of problems financed by
Barrick Gold and Nova Gold
Contact:
Alaska's
Big Village Network, Carl Wassilie 907-382-3403
Center
for Water Advocacy, Nikos Pastos 907-764-2561
Alaska
Inter-Tribal Council, Delice Calcote 907-563-9334
What: Donlin Gold Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) Scoping Meeting
When: January
22, 2013 5:30-6pm demonstration; 6pm hearing
Where: Wilde
Martson Theatre, Loussac Library 3600 Denali Street, Anchorage,
AK
January
22, 2013
Anchorage,
AK
Alaskan
Tribal Communities, Yup'ik fisherpeoples and environmental groups
warn Donlin Gold -- "No mercury poison in our waters and in our
bodies!"
A
group of concerned global citizens, indigenous peoples
and Yup'ik fisherpeoples are demonstrating opposition to the proposed
Donlin Gold mine in the Kuskokwim watershed. The Army Corps of
Engineers is holding a Donlin Gold Environmental Impact Statement
public meeting in Anchorage, Alaska, today. The groups have
concerns about one of the world's largest proposed mega-gold mines
whose 16,300 acre wetland footprint extends into the Alaska marine
transportation corridor.
The proposed mine's impacts will result in permanent changes to the Kuskokwim River's Yup'ik peoples' cultural survival, subsistence resources, and health. "The increased dredging, ports and barges carrying toxic materials in our Kuskokwim river will negatively impact our coastal and river villages' salmon fishing, food security, drinking water, future generations and cultural traditions," says Ole Lake of Alaska's Big Village Network.
The proposed mine's impacts will result in permanent changes to the Kuskokwim River's Yup'ik peoples' cultural survival, subsistence resources, and health. "The increased dredging, ports and barges carrying toxic materials in our Kuskokwim river will negatively impact our coastal and river villages' salmon fishing, food security, drinking water, future generations and cultural traditions," says Ole Lake of Alaska's Big Village Network.
This
mine will bring enormous cost to water, fish, wildlife, peoples and
migratory animal pathways with massive amounts of contaminants such
as mercury, arsenic and selenium, that will permanently leach into
the Kuskokwim watershed. ["Dirty
Metals: Mining, Communities and the Environment," A report by
Earthworks and Oxfam America, 2004]
Donlin
Gold is equally owned and supported by Barrick Gold Corp. and
Nova Gold Resources. Barrick and NovaGold both have a history
of contaminating peoples' water supply on a global scale.
“Center
for Water Advocacy (CWA) is concerned about the Human Rights
implications of a mine of this scale to the amount of water that is
withdrawn out of stream that would otherwise be used for subsistence
purposes,” says Harold Shepherd of Center for Water Advocacy.
“Furthermore, there exists the potential contamination of drinking
water and subsistence food resources.”
NovaGold
has a history of mishaps in Alaska including the complete shutdown of
the Rock Creek mine in Nome, Alaska, in which "streamlined
permitting" killed 2 workers and resulted in terrible planning
for the water balance of the mining operation in 2007-8.[“Rock
Creek Mine Problems,” report by Center for Science in Public
Participation, April 2012]
Alaska
Inter-Tribal Council (AITC) is concerned about the worst-case senario
of a dam failure or barge accident along transportation routes that
would lead to catastrophic releases of contaminants and toxic
substances in the environment which impacts hundreds of villages
along the transportation route.
“Shell's
Kulluk grounding accident shows us the vulnerability, risks and
threats to tribal communities that hunt, fish, gather, and harvest
marine and aquatic subsistence resources along the coasts and inland
waters,” says Delice Calcote, Executive Director of AITC. National
Congress of American Indians has a resolution opposing development of
the Donlin mine as it threatens Alaska's indigenous peoples
traditional means of subsistence and implicates violations of
international law. [National
Congress of American Indians Resolution #NGF-09-005]
Acid
Mine Drainage (AMD) is also a major concern of these groups in the
proposed Donlin Gold mine. AMD can cause severe health, reproductive
and developmental impacts to living organisms; including humans. Some
of these concerns have been discussed extensively in the EPA's draft
Bristol Bay Watershed Assessment of the Pebble Mine project. In
addition, Donlin proposes to install a 313-mile, 14-inch gas
pipeline from Cook Inlet to the middle of a Kuskokwim wilderness
area, an area with no infrastructure. The municipality of
Anchorage predicts a Southcentral Alaska natural gas supply crisis in
Cook Inlet region by 2014.
The
groups are calling on Anchorage and Southcentral Alaska residents to
get involved in the Donlin Gold EIS to oppose this badly planned mine
that threatens Alaskans' air, water, land, animals and future
generations.
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