Villagers and NGOs have accused the gold mining company of poisoning people and livestock by contaminating the Siria valleyAuthorities in Honduras are investigating claims that one of the world's biggest gold mining corporations has contaminated a valley with toxic heavy metals. Villagers and non-governmental organisations have accused Goldcorp of killing livestock and making people sick by polluting land and rivers in the Siria valley.The environmental prosecutor is undertaking an investigation after being presented with evidence that the Canadian corporation's San Martin opencast mine discharged highly acidic and metal-rich water in 2008. The company has denied wrongdoing.The inquiry comes at a critical time when record gold prices are encouraging other mining corporations to explore fresh sites in Honduras. Environmentalists fear the impoverished central American country will lift a moratorium on new mining after a new government takes office in January.Goldcorp is shutting the decade-old San Martin mine after extracting nearly 12,000 tonnes of ore from its
forested slopes. The dynamite explosions have stopped and there are no more ore-laden
trucks rattling down rutted, dusty roads.People in villages bordering the site say the damage is done and the fields and streams are poisoned. "The water tastes like acid, like something out of a car battery," said Roger Abraham, vice-president of the Siria Valley Environmental Committee, an activist group. "It would have been better if the mine never came. It has done more harm than good."He said the damage to the valley would galvanise campaigns against other mines. "We will use peaceful, social actions to block access. We can't allow this to be repeated."The community's complaints have been backed by two studies, commissioned by the
UK-based advocacy group Cafod. The studies detected high acidity which could be linked to cyanide "heap-leaching" methods to extract gold from low-grade deposits. They describe how ...
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