Gold mine locals to get health checks

Gold mine locals to get health checks

Ministry seeks to allay Phichit villager fears

The Public Health Ministry has ordered health checks on villagers living near a gold mine in Phichit province and for treatment to be provided for those whose blood is contaminated by heavy metals.

The move follows a visit by deputy Public Health Minister Somsak Chunharas to communities living near the Chatree gold mine in Thap Khlo district on Sunday.

The mine is operated by Akara Resources Plc which insists its mining activities follow local and international standards and is not causing the problem of heavy metal contamination.

"The Public Health Ministry can't tell if the mine's activities meet standards because this is for another department to check. However, what we can say is that we found excessive manganese and arsenic contamination in water samples collected from water sources near mine tailing sites," Dr Somsak said.

The ministry's test results match those from a test carried out last year by the Phichit Provincial Public Health Office.

The tests carried out by the local authority last year showed that water from three sources was found to have excessive amounts of iron contamination and two other sources had excessive amounts of manganese contamination.

Earlier this month, Central Institute of Forensic Science director-general Khunying Pornthip Rojanasunand tested 732 villagers living near the mine.

The result showed that 401 had heavy metal contamination in their blood at levels that exceeded safety standards.

Dr Somsak said the public health minister will provide urgent healthcare assistance to villagers including medical workers to treat them.

He split villagers into three groups — villagers who show obvious symptoms of certain diseases, villagers whose blood tests found heavy metal contamination that exceeded safety standards, and villagers expressing worries about their health.

Meanwhile, Akara Resources Plc yesterday defended its mining activities.

Pakorn Sukhum, the company's chief executive officer, said an investigation by an internationally recognised environmental specialist, commissioned in early 2014, found the Chatree mining operation was not the source of high levels of arsenic or manganese in the district.

The Chatree processing plant does not use arsenic or manganese, he said.

Akara, a key part of the local community, is working closely with toxicology experts from Mahidol University and the environmental specialist to find the source of high arsenic and manganese levels, it said.

The company insisted that it strictly follows Thai mining laws and regulations.

"We take the health of local people, employees and the environment very seriously. The proof of this comes from the fact that we test local villagers every year and continually test and monitor our own employees," Mr Prakorn said.

"Last year we tested 598 employees including contractors for a number of compounds, including arsenic and manganese, and they were all well below World Health Organisation thresholds for this type of work," Mr Pakorn said.

Akara Resources is being subjected to false claims which can lead the public to conclude the Chatree mine might be causing the elevated levels of manganese and arsenic found in some villagers nearby, he said. Naturally occurring arsenic is found at high levels in many parts of Thailand, he said.

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