Workers Toil to Contain Cyanide Spill at Romanian Gold Mine

Workers toiled Wednesday to prevent more cyanide from spilling from a gold mine and reaching European rivers as children played in the snow nearby.

The poison streamed from the containment dam at the mine near Baia Mare in late January, flowing into Hungary and Yugoslavia in the Szamos and Tisa rivers and back into Romania in the Danube.

“Very serious damage was done,” Pekka Haavisto, chairman of the U.N. Environment Program, said as he toured the mine. The full extent of devastation will be known only after tests are completed, he said.

The reservoir’s 12-foot-high wall was discolored by the gold ore washed with the cyanide solution. Workers toiled to reinforce the dikes to prevent further spillage.

About half a mile away, farmers in the village of Sasar spoke of earlier signs that something was wrong at the mine.

Ana Ghisa, 62, said she and others had been paid for five head of cattle that died or had to be put down last summer after drinking cyanide-contaminated water near a pasture.

Australian-based Esmeralda Exploration Ltd., co-owner of the Baia Mare gold mine, has denied responsibility for the spill.