Cyanide Waste Spill Endangers People Along Guyana River
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GEORGETOWN, Guyana — Shoals of dead fish and hogs floated down Guyana’s biggest river Tuesday, victims of a cyanide waste spill that continued to escape from a gold mine operated by U.S. and Canadian companies.
More than 325 million gallons of cyanide waste had spilled into the Essequibo River near Omai since Saturday night, turning central Guyana’s biggest source of water into a potentially deadly flow. The spill had traveled 50 miles downstream by Tuesday.
Yelling through bullhorns from boats, trucks and low-flying helicopters, health officials plied the river banks to warn 18,000 Indians, loggers and miners not to touch the water.
Omai Gold Mines Ltd. said it had reduced the rate of spillage by diverting some of the water into the pit of the mine, the second-largest open-pit mine in South America.
The concentration of cyanide in the spilling water was diluted from 15 parts per million Sunday to around three parts per million, the company said. Cyanide can be fatal in concentrations above 2 parts per million. Lower doses ingested over a period of time can cause mental retardation.
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