One farmer, María de la Cruz Mariano, said that she began to suffer
skin allergies and other ailments in 2010, after PVDC began work. Tests
on her blood conducted by a private laboratory showed high levels of
lead, sulphur, cyanide and zinc. Some of her cattle have died from
bovine anaemia, which can be caused by ingesting cyanide. Other
residents report that previously clean local rivers have become polluted
since PVDC built a dam to collect water containing cyanide, which is
used to leach gold from crushed rock.
PVDC has signed the international code of practice for the handling
of cyanide. It says it is “in the process of capturing all the surface
flows” from the old and the new mines, sending the water to storage
ponds where it is treated. PVDC says that, together with local people,
it conducts regular, public tests on water and air.
http://www.economist.com/news/americas/21586560-shiny-new-mine-rusty-pollution-problems-sickness-and-wealth
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