For the third time in just over a decade, South African-listed Gold Fields has been accused of allowing unacceptable discharges from its Tarkwa gold mine in Ghana.
In October 2001, thousands of cubic metres of the mine's waste water, contaminated with cyanide and heavy metals, poured into the nearby Asuman river, following a tailings dam rupture. See: Ghana: Cyanide Spill Worst Disaster Ever in West African Nation
Fourteen months later came a further release of potentially contaminated waters into the same river from an abandoned underground shaft. See: Ghana Gold Mine Spills into River Polluted in 2001
Last week, Ghana's environmental protection agency ordered closure of Tarwa's cyanide heap leach plant, following Gold Fields failure to adequately treat released waste water.
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