Khunying Pornthip examines locals affected by gold mine toxic waste in Phijit

PHIJIT, 28 Nov 2014, (NNT) - The Forensic Science Institute Director has revealed a shocking discovery that more than half of the group of locals randomly selected around a gold mine in Phijit Province have a high level of heavy metal in their bodies.

Forensic Science Institute Director Khunying Pornthip Rojanasunand has conducted a toxic contamination examination on the locals around a gold mine in Thupklor District of Phijit Province.

The examination was triggered after numerous complaints had been lodged against a private company illegally disposing of its toxic waste from its gold mining operation, in the surrounding community.

The Director reported to the provincial administration and the truth finding committee that 329 out of 600 randomly selected locals have Manganese in their blood and arsenic acid in 70% of their body systems. Khunying Pornthip, however, could not identify the origin of the toxic waste, prompting environment-related agencies to launch a further probe into the case.

Khunying Pornthip also urged the authorities to lay down a concrete plan to help the victimsand suggested that they look after the health of the locals to prevent further damage.

According to her, the examination results would be forwarded to the Minister of Justice and his Permanent Secretary to initiate legal action against the mining company.


-- NNT 2014-11-28

And what is surprising about that ?

And what is surprising about that ?

What is surprising is that the it seems it is Chatree Gold Mine run by an Australian mining house called Kinsgate Consolidated. They use worlds best practice as do all Australian mining houses so the chances of this happening is very very slim. BUT as with MMG in Laos, another Australian mining company, the government pressure the companies to employee nationals into positions of authority and to reduce the number of expats on site, sometimes asking unrealistic ratio's of expat to national which are unsustainable. Succession planning is more important than safety or environmental impact in some cases though they will never admit it.

I have visited one site and have worked at the site in Laos. The aggression at which nationals replaced expats in superintendent positions or above were ludicrous.

If one did a root cause analysis (5 whys) of why this happened I would confidently say it was attributed to the above. I would not be surprised if the HSE Manager / Superintendent was an under qualified national. The sad thing is it is all swings and roundabouts. The national will be placed into a similar position albeit with less responsibility and an expat brought in. Then in 24 months when the government push for nationals again the expat will be sacked and a national will fill the position again.

Thus is the way of international mining companies.

And this is the same outfit that attacked the villagers with thugs, threatened lives and hurt people for complaining.

maybe the G2000 can detect high levels of heavy metal in people's bodies....

And what is surprising about that ?

What is surprising is that the it seems it is Chatree Gold Mine run by an Australian mining house called Kinsgate Consolidated. They use worlds best practice as do all Australian mining houses so the chances of this happening is very very slim. BUT as with MMG in Laos, another Australian mining company, the government pressure the companies to employee nationals into positions of authority and to reduce the number of expats on site, sometimes asking unrealistic ratio's of expat to national which are unsustainable. Succession planning is more important than safety or environmental impact in some cases though they will never admit it.

I have visited one site and have worked at the site in Laos. The aggression at which nationals replaced expats in superintendent positions or above were ludicrous.

If one did a root cause analysis (5 whys) of why this happened I would confidently say it was attributed to the above. I would not be surprised if the HSE Manager / Superintendent was an under qualified national. The sad thing is it is all swings and roundabouts. The national will be placed into a similar position albeit with less responsibility and an expat brought in. Then in 24 months when the government push for nationals again the expat will be sacked and a national will fill the position again.

Thus is the way of international mining companies.

Maybe the company simply has to say no. We will not allow you to replace competent people with incompetent people. If you can demonstrate to us their level of expertise, we will consider them. But, we are not willing to have our experts replaced, by people who's only qualification is being Thai. Just say no. If you insist, we will sell out our operation, and move out of the country. Period. No negotiations. Just try to strong-arm us. We will pick up and leave so fast your tiny little heads will spin. And we will spend alot of time, money, and effort warming the entire mining community worldwide, to stay away from Thailand, and its pointless regulations, and extreme nationalism. How you like me now?

The company employs 4 expats only in Phichit. See my other response on the similar thread. There are various illegal gold mining activities occurring in this area, which I have seen personally pumping raw effluent into watercourses.

And what is surprising about that ?

What is surprising is that the it seems it is Chatree Gold Mine run by an Australian mining house called Kinsgate Consolidated. They use worlds best practice as do all Australian mining houses so the chances of this happening is very very slim. BUT as with MMG in Laos, another Australian mining company, the government pressure the companies to employee nationals into positions of authority and to reduce the number of expats on site, sometimes asking unrealistic ratio's of expat to national which are unsustainable. Succession planning is more important than safety or environmental impact in some cases though they will never admit it.

I have visited one site and have worked at the site in Laos. The aggression at which nationals replaced expats in superintendent positions or above were ludicrous.

If one did a root cause analysis (5 whys) of why this happened I would confidently say it was attributed to the above. I would not be surprised if the HSE Manager / Superintendent was an under qualified national. The sad thing is it is all swings and roundabouts. The national will be placed into a similar position albeit with less responsibility and an expat brought in. Then in 24 months when the government push for nationals again the expat will be sacked and a national will fill the position again.

Thus is the way of international mining companies.

The kingsgate marketing team is pulling their own weight.....

http://kingsgateconsolidated.com.au/chatree-sustainability/