A large landslide at a mining operation in Erzincan province (eastern Turkey) has buried nine workers, leaving hundreds of rescuers trying to find them. It is not known whether they are alive or deceased. The avalanche also threatens to release cyanide into the nearby Euphrates River. On Wednesday, authorities arrested four people in connection with the case.
The accident occurred on Tuesday in the gold mine in the town of Cöpler, in the open area where the leaching process takes place, i.e. the use of cyanide to separate gold from other minerals and soils. The landslide occurred in an area of about 200 meters of slope and displaced 10 million cubic meters of earth at a speed of 10 meters per second over almost a kilometer, according to Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya, who moved to the area to oversee rescue efforts. A statement from the College of Geological Engineers indicated that one of the likely causes of the landslide could be recent rains, along with the “saturation” of the land with liquid products used in the leaching.
At the time of the avalanche accident, five workers were in a container, one in the cab of a truck and the remaining three in another vehicle, giving some hope of finding them alive, although no information is available 24 hours after the accident. was able to contact them. Its exact location is triangulated using radar. As part of an operation, 300 rescuers and a thousand employees of various organizations, including scientists and experts, were mobilized. “The search will continue day and night without a break,” the minister promised.
Opposition media have reported that the landslide damaged cyanide and sulfuric acid deposits used in gold mining, although authorities have disputed that point. The government delegate in Erzincan province, Hamza Aydogdu, stated that “currently there have been no discharges” and no toxic discharges are expected into the Euphrates, where the mine is located. However, Environment Ministry experts have begun taking samples to investigate possible leaks, and the ministry reported in a statement that the mine's drain gates have been closed to prevent a spill.
Canadian-American company
The Justice Department has appointed four prosecutors to investigate the accident and announced the arrest of four people allegedly linked to the company. Anagold is the company that has operated the mine since 2010 and is owned by Canadian-American company SSR Mining (80%) and Turkish conglomerate Calik (20%), which is very close to Presidential Executive Director Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
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Several experts have complained that the mine does not meet required safety standards. In June 2022, a mine pipe explosion resulted in a leak of 20 cubic meters of cyanide onto undeveloped land. The farm then remained closed for 88 days while the investigation continued, which ended with a fine of 16.5 million lire (just under a million euros at the time). However, according to the newspaper Evrensel, the government canceled a tax debt of 209 million lire (around 10 million euros) that same year.
Last November, the Association of Engineering and Architectural Colleges of Turkey (TMMOB) filed a complaint against the Anagold mine, warning of “the risk of landslides and avalanches” due to the company's poor practices and because it sits on a fault. active in an area with major seismic activity. “We said a disaster was coming, and in the end it happened,” the organization lamented in a statement. Opposition parties have complained that authorities have allowed mining operations to expand despite warnings from experts.
The parliamentary spokesman for the center-left CHP party, Gökhan Günaydin, denounced that although certain cyanide processes in gold mining are banned in the European Union and other countries, they continue to be carried out in Turkey despite their serious consequences for the environment and health .
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