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Gold Mining Cyanide Attempts in Bulgaria: Water Protection - Endangering Activities Conference

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  1. Gold mining cyanide attempts in Bulgaria “Water protection – endangering activities” Conference – Budapest, 01-02.02.2011 www.bankwatch.org

  2. Projects background • Canadian Dundee Precious Metals (DPM) with his Bulgarian company “Chelopech mining” at Chelopech gold and copper mine • Bulgarian company “Gorubso” at Kurdjali • Bulgarian company KCM, Plovdiv • Other attempts for cyanide leaching like village Popinci, Krumovgrad • 37 proven, economically viable deposits of gold and several old tailings dam from copper mines www.bankwatch.org

  3. Main problematic issues (apart from the cyanide use as such) • violations of the Bulgarian Environmental Act and other relevant legislation • underestimation of the potential risks and low quality of the EIA’s • pro forma public consultations • contradiction and non-compliance of the EU directives www.bankwatch.org

  4. Contribution of the “responsible” state authorities to these problems • choosing the scope of the public consultations incl. the administrative division issue • issuing an EIA permit for an already built illegal cyanide leaching installation • total rejection of any attempt of the civil society to influence the cyanide projects • deliberate elimination of the civil society from discussions and legislative initiatives www.bankwatch.org

  5. Cyanide Free Bulgaria coalition non-formal body from around 10 environmental NGO’s, mining NGO’s and local communities since 2005 (the first investment proposal for cyanide leaching) www.bankwatch.org

  6. What we have done… • Statements and participation at the EIA and IPPC procedures • Protests against the lack of reaction to our statements and the low quality of the EIA’s • Communication with the relevant governmental bodies – European and national www.bankwatch.org

  7. What we have done… • Subscriptions and petitions • Court cases • Legislative proposal for cyanide ban • Media work • Work with the relevant financing institutions like EBRD www.bankwatch.org

  8. Achievements • local resistance to the cyanide technology • public intolerance to the cyanide technology • alerts to the financing institutions, EP and EC • growing media coverage of our position www.bankwatch.org

  9. Achievements • DPM positive EIA cancelled by the Supreme Administrative Court – the company has gave up the cyanide technology at Chelopech and Krumovgrad • initial attempts at Popinci and Chepelare stopped by a strong local resistance • provokedincrease of the numbers and the amounts of the penalties www.bankwatch.org

  10. Lessons learned • A very low quality EIA report has been granted with positive decision • Number of violations of the Bulgarian and EU legislation hasn’t been “noticed” by the Company and State experts • The public interest has been neglected by the “responsible” national authorities • The cyanide leaching technology is NOT a BAT !!! www.bankwatch.org

  11. Thank you for the attention! Daniel Popov dpopov@bankwatch.org Centre for Environmental Information and Education National coordinator of CEE Bankwatch network www.bankwatch.org

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