Poison of Cyanide in Bukit Koman, Raub, Pahang

Bukit Koman a small village situated in the district of Raub, Pahang became famous over a hundred years ago because of its godl mine. There are about 400 households and a population of about 3,000. Life was peaceful and serene until early August, 2006 when the issue of "Cyanide" brought fear and anxiety.

August 21st, last year, the London listed company known as Peninsular Gold Limited wholly own subsidiary, Australian Gold Mining Sdn. Bhd., has obtained the written approval from the Mineral and Geosains of Pahang to mine gold using Cyanide at the vicinity of the gold mining site in Bukit Koman without the knowledge of the villagers. It is known that they have built up the infracture for gold mining already.

Cyanide (CN) is the most toxic chemical, that can stop human cells from consuming exygen. Anyone who inhales concentrated Hydrogen Cyanide Gas ould drop dead instantly. In using Cyanide to extract gold, the yield is high as 97% which made the venture very attractive. Since 1960, the use of Cyanide in gold mining becama very common.

In october 1st 2006, the Gold Mining Company disclosed the approval letter for Cyanide gold mining form the State Government to the Bukit koman Committee members over lunch in one of the Raub Restaurant. They claimed that it is safe and the health of the villages will not be affected. After the Bukit Koman Committee members broke the news to the villagers, some went online to find out more about Cyanide. It is confirmed that the Cyanide is a deadly chemical. The villagers decided to from a committee to protect themselves. They seek the assistance of "Sahabat Alam Malaysia" (SAM) and with its help, an Anti-Cyanide Committee was formed. An all residents Anti-Cyanide compaign were mobilized.



As Bukit Koman New Village is situated just right at the side of the gold mine, the villages are very unhappy that the Pahang Mine And Geology Department has surreptitiously approved the use of Cyanide in gold mining without deu considerations.

Our Malaysia Government and Environmental Minister has always stressed the importance of relocating the small, medium and big industries with either smoke or non-smoke to be at least 5 km away from town area and all the environmental wastes must be treated very carefully. All the villagers, young and old alike are frightened and anxious and angry at the total disregard to their health and well being.

The nearest house, No. 74-A in Bukit Koman is only two meters away from the mining site and most of the houses in the village are only separated by a village road.

Question being asked, how and why did The Pahang Mine and Geology Department able to grant and approve the use of Cyanide in the mining of gold here when there are houses and small industries (Mee, Tau Foo, Groundnuts) so close to the mine.

There is a river flowing through the mining site. If the river overflows during floods, the water will seep into the gold mining infrastructure and can lead to Cyanide leadage and resulting in disastrous conssequences.

This has already happened in advanced and developed countries that used Cyanide to extract gold. Should that happen here, not only Bukit Koman villagers are danger but also the whole Raub population as well.



River pollution will definetely lead to "The Raub Oil Mill" and Oil Palm plantations by the Koman River. The mill uses the water for the manufacturing of Palm Oil products. These products are meant for markets both locals and overseas.

Polluted water will definitely lead to Lipis District also because the water flows to Sungai Dong and there on to Sungai Lipis and on and on.

A resident by the name of Gan Chew Yen, presently doing her Master Degree in Chemistry, pointed out that when Cyanide solution is slightly Acidic, it can turn to Cyanide Gas which is extreamely toxic and when Cyanide solution is Alkaline, the Cyanide will not break down. So either in the air or water, this chemical is extremely toxic to the environment.

Robert Moran, a Geo-Chemical expert, has found Cyanide contaminated sediments at a Cobalt-Nickel mine in Missouri that contained many milligrams per kilogram of total Cyanide more than 25 years after all processing had ceased. Samples of bricks, concrete palster and mortar from buildings at the Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camps collected 45 years after all use of Cyanide ceased still showed detectable concentrations of Cyanide, presumably as Iron Cyanides.

History of accidents did happen; Cyanide and heavy metal leaks from the Summitville gold mine killed all aquatic life along a 27 kilometer stretch of the Alamosa River in the San Juan Mountains of Southwestern Colorado. By the time the fold mine was shut down in December 1992, the total clean-up costs have exceeded US$150 million.

In North-Western state of Montana, November 3, 1998, banned the use of Cyanide to extract gold. After years of suffering and dozens toxic leaks from the local mines, the indigenous assiniboine and Gros Ventre peoples had to battle for years in court to force Pegasus, a Canadian gold mining company, to clean-up Cyanide Waste on the Fort Belknap reservation in the Little Rocky Mountains of Montana. Although the community won the lawsuit in 1996, the company declared bankruptcy the following year thwarting clean-up efforts.

The community of Bergama, Turkey, was the first to win a legal ban on Cyanide. In May, 1997, the highest Turkish administrative court overturned approval given by the Department of Environment for the proposed Eurogold project after a rally by 10,000 local poeple with 1,000 tractors occupied the mine site. The judgement was based on the Turkish Constitution and its guarantee of a healthy and intact environment. The court found that the Cyanide based mining technology was at odds with these constitutional rights.

There were "seven wells" left behind by the Raub Australian Gold Mining company when they mined gold underground many years ago. The Australian started mining gold in Raub and Bukit Koman since 1898 to 1963. These seven wells are situated along a straight line from "Raub Well" near the present Chung Ching Secondary School in Raub to the "Malacca Well" in Bukit Koman at the present gold mining area. The depths of these wells range from 600 ft. to 1,200 ft. underground. These wells are accessible by underground tunnels, which included the three wells now under the waste mining lake (tailings).



If the waste tailings and water containing Cyanide seeps into ground and into the waste mining lake, the whole of Raub District will be Cyanide contaminated by way of the underground water, interconnected by these tunnels.

Pollution would not only have a serious repervussion on the 3,000 villages of Bukit Koman but the whole population of Raub District.

The villagers have been very sincere in asking The Pahang State Government, Parliment and State Assemblyman to consider their humble request and look into their plight. It is the villagers hope that the "Letter of Authority To Mine" No. Phg. 14/2006 dated 21/8/2006 using Cyanide / Carbon In-Leach by the Mineral and Geosains of Pahang, on the study that was based some 10 years ago be revoked from the gold mining company. Last but not least we would like the Government of the day to treat this matter with urgency and not to one gold mining company that overrides the population of Raub.