Deadly Mine Disaster in Ilic: Health and Environmental Risks Spark Outrage

AFPThe mine in Ilic after the disaster

NOS Nieuws•vandaag, 22:04

• Mitra Nazar

  correspondent Turkey

• Mitra Nazar

  correspondent Turkey

In the teahouse in the main street of the Turkish town of Ilic, the mine disaster is still the talk of the town. “We are dejected,” Hasan said. “The boys under the rubble are our neighbors, our friends.” But they are not surprised that this happened. The Çöpler gold mine, just outside Ilic, has been controversial for years, due to its damage to the environment and habitat. “That mine should have been closed a long time ago. It has only brought us misery.”

On February 13, about 10 million tons of earth fell at a site where miners were working. Images from the dashcam of a truck show how a dark brown sludge flows onto the road at breakneck speed. Three trucks get away in time, but the fourth disappears in the mudflow. The search continues for nine men who were present on the site.

Mountain of death

Some of them are said to have been in a container when it was buried by the mudflow. Rescue work is complicated by the persistent danger of new landslides. And probably also due to the presence of toxic substances.

The landslide was not caused by weather conditions or an earthquake. It was an artificial mountain that collapsed due to inadequate safety measures, said Ferhat Akilma of an independent miners’ union in Ilic. “This is not an accident. They have created a mountain of death.” Photos taken by miners show that there were already large cracks in the mountain of residual waste before the disaster. Miners state that they warned managers, but nothing was done about it.

Turkish mines have a bad reputation. The worst mining disaster was at a coal mine in Soma in 2014, when 301 miners died. In 2022, 41 miners were killed after an explosion in a mine in Amasra.

Toxic substances

The Çöpler mine, in Erzincan province, is the largest gold mine in Turkey. The area covers almost 1750 hectares. It is a so-called open-pit mine, where gold is extracted from rock above ground. Toxic substances are used, including cyanide, a poison that can lead to cardiac arrest if inhaled. The gold mining industry is controversial worldwide because high concentrations of toxic arsenic, lead and other heavy metals also pose health risks to local residents.

The mine at Ilic has been operated since 2010 by the Anagold company, a joint venture of the Canadian-American company SSR Mining and the Turkish Calik Holding. Calik Holding is a company known to have close ties to President Erdogan’s government.

People had been warning about the gold mine for years. Several accidents took place there. The last incident was in 2022, when cyanide leaked into the groundwater after a pipeline containing the toxic substance burst. The mine had to close temporarily, but was soon able to reopen after paying a fine.

Fear of Euphrates

Environmental experts fear that the toxins are now leaking into the groundwater in larger quantities, eventually contaminating the adjacent Euphrates River. The Euphrates flows through to Syria and Iraq and is one of the longest rivers in the Middle East.

The Association of Turkish Engineers and Architects already sounded the alarm about the gold mine in November 2023 due to a “major risk of a landslide”. Now they are calling for an immediate and permanent closure of the mine.

The Ministry of the Environment withdrew Anagold’s environmental permit on Saturday, but it is still unclear whether the mine will also have to close as a result. After the disaster, eight employees of the mining company were arrested for questioning, six are still in custody.

Activist arrested

Who was also arrested is Sedat Cezaryirlioglu, who has been campaigning against the gold mine in his backyard for years. He had spoken out strongly in Turkish media after the disaster and was charged with spreading disinformation. He was in jail for 24 hours, and the judge gave him a restraining order for a radius of three kilometers around the mine. He is furious.

“I have been warning for nine years that carcinogenic substances are being used here and that our groundwater is being contaminated by that mine,” he shouts on the terrace of the teahouse in Ilic, where he is being welcomed as a hero after his release from prison. “I warned that cyanide mountain would explode one day. No one listened. Now that it’s happened, they’ll take it me op.”

NOSSedat Cezaryirlioglu, who has been campaigning against the gold mine for years

Cezaryirlioglu and his supporters fear that the government is trying to keep the environmental consequences of a major cyanide leak quiet so that the profitable mine does not have to close. According to Ferhat Akilma of the miners’ union, miners are being put under pressure. “They fear for their jobs. They get emails and text messages telling them not to talk to the media.”

It is still difficult to determine how much cyanide has ended up in the groundwater after last week’s disaster. Authorities say they have not found any cyanide in the Euphrates River or drinking water at this time. Various experts predict that it will indeed end up in the river via groundwater.

The men at the teahouse fear that too. “The water here has long been contaminated. Our animals are dying. And we haven’t heard birds chirping for years.”

2024-02-21 21:04:34
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