Normandy's Turkish Mine Stumped by Court Ruling

Normandy's Turkish Mine Stumped by Court Ruling

Mining Monitor - Vol 2 no 3 pages 1&3

Bob Burton

The construction of a gold mine in one of Turkey's most fertile agricultural regions by Eurogold, 40% owned by Australian company Normandy Mining, has sparked bitter opposition from local people who on one occasion occupied the mine site.

The people of earthquake prone Ovacik and other villages near Bergama live by cultivating cotton, tobacco, tomatoes and olives and by raising sheep and cattle. The area is also the site of the ruins of the Aegean city of Pergamon which attracts thousands of tourists per year.

Following a major lobbying campaign by Normandy, including support from Australia's Ambassador, and the former ALP backbench member Alan Griffiths, the Eurogold project received government permission to proceed (see "Normandy's Turkish foray", Mining Monitor No 2). Eurogold is 40% owned by Australian mining company Normandy Mining through its international resources arm, La Source Compagnie Miniere SAS.

The mine will take up 100 hectares of land and use cyanide for the processing of the ore. "If the cyanide mixes with our water, we will be poisoned", said Minir Aldor. Eurogold officials insist that technology will render the cyanide solution harmless. Hayri Ogut, Eurogold's public relations manager declared: "You can even drink it" , although he did not offer to do so himself.

Haydar Evtal, leader of the nearby village of Narlica, says that during the exploratory phase, the company drilled at night: "in the morning, the villagers saw that the water had turned white and there was a strong smell of motor oil . for four months we couldn't drink the water". Eurogold said that it would stop drilling until permission was granted by the village, and worked to convince the villagers that they would benefit from the mine.

Company representatives also tried to tell the local communities that the US-based Sierra Club had stopped protesting against cyanide heap leaching. But this policy change was news to Sierra Club Conservation Director, Bruce Hamilton: "Eurogold should not say that the Sierra Club withdrew its objections to the technology, we have not."

Eurogold has spent about US$100,000 a year on promotional materials, excluding advertisements, to convince the public that it is "bringing life not death" to the area. The people of Bergama are not, however, changing their minds. In a recent unofficial referendum in eight villages, "89 percent of those eligible voted, and they all voted no to the mine", said Bergama mayor, Sefa Taskin.

The villagers of Bergama took their case to court to try to force the company to leave, but Eurogold won. A group of 600 people appealed this decision. They filed a lawsuit against the Environment Ministry for approving the operation. In late May the High Court upheld the appeal.

Izmir Lawyers for the Environment have sent a report to the Prime Minister to ask that the High Court decision, which ruled that the mine should be stopped due to the risks it poses to human health and to the environment, be implemented. The decision, based on human rights protection in the Turkish constitution, should have taken effect on 27 June.

Eurogold has continued construction however because it maintains that the decision does not have to be implemented until a lower court in Izmir reconsiders it. The constitution states that if a court in Turkey rules on an issue the ruling must be implemented within 30 days.

On 30 June, villagers of Bergama blocked roads to prevent empty cyanide containers from being brought to the proposed Eurogold gold mine site. Turkish security forces tried to stop them while 2 trucks were overturned and an ambulance belonging to the company was set on fire at the mine site. 35 people were arrested, and farmers going to their fields the following day were also taken into custody. Since then protests have continued.

In late August 250 villagers travelled 565 kilometres from the town of Bergama to occupy the Bosporus bridge linking Asia to Europe with banners stating "No to cyanide gold, until we die". The following day Eurogold told a news conference in Ankara that "the best way to decrease the pressure is to demonstrate our process is safe". It proposed that the company be allowed to operate the plant for a two-month trial period.

From the outset Normandy knew that there would be strong opposition. A leaked Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade cable recorded that the Turkish Minister for the Environment, Riza Akcali, warned lobbyists for Eurogold "What would the company do if the public lay down in front of the machines? . It would be futile to proceed without public opinion being onside".

Former Labor Government Environment Minister, Ros Kelly, is now a member of Normandy Mining's International Board. She told Mining Monitor that most of the opposition to the mine comes from the Mayor of Bergama. "You can't seriously object to this on environmental grounds. This is way in excess of any mine in Australia" she says. Normandy's Australian operations might not have detoxification plants or double lined tailings dams but Normandy she says has a "policy of exceeding normal standards".

However she acknowledged that "the whole project could have been handled a lot better with the community". The protests she says are "about a conflict of land uses".