Cyanide probe - Ausjam blames ignorant scientists and reporters

Christopher Serju, Sunday Gleaner Writer

Paul Sailah, owner of the Ausjam mining plant in Clarendon says he is uncertain whether he will restart business in Jamaica given the recent controversy over its operations.

He was also tight-lipped about the outcome of a meeting he had with the National Environment & Planning Agency (NEPA) on Friday. He described the meeting as quite good, but said he planned to have a "good, hard look," at the contents of a letter from the agency, before deciding whether to restart mining operations. However, he admitted to being frustrated by recent events which have cast the AUSJAM mining facility in a bad light.

A team of consultants hired by the NEPA began removing tonnes of the highly toxic sodium cyanide from the inactive AUSJAM gold mining plant in Pennants, Clarendon last week after an investigation revealed that a cyanide leak could have contaminated water at the site, resulting in the death of a cow on July 10.

Removal of the highly toxic material was a critical part of the clean-up exercise now underway at the site.

validity of the operation

The process to neutralise the cyanide solution at the AUSJAM mining facility in Clarendon has reportedly been completed, with samples of the inert liquid sent off for testing. This is to verify the validity of the operation which was conducted by CL Environmental Company.

Carlton Campbell, managing director of CL Environmental Company, told The Sunday Gleaner yesterday that the process was completed on Friday and the results of laboratory tests should be known by this week. Until then, he was unable to comment further but expressed confidence that all had gone according to plan, which saw hydrogen peroxide added to the solution to render it inert.

The Government has said it would not be against granting a new licence to AUSJAM Gold Mine.

However, Minister of Water, Environment and Housing Dr Horace Chang said that would depend on a careful analysis of all the benefits to Jamaica.

Yesterday Sailah insisted that he would not put anybody at risk on this island. "I just wouldn't and it's all been blown up, I'm the guy who has come from Australia to try to open a gold mine. Everybody thinks there is millions of dollars in gold mining. I have not made one cent out of this gold mine over the last 10 years. It's actually cost me somewhere in the vicinity of seven and half and ten million dollars. I don't know the exact figure but that's the sort of money already invested and I'm quite frustrated with the whole issue," he said.

ignorance

He blamed ignorance on the part of local scientists and the gullibility of journalists as contributing to the negative portrayal of the plant's operations.

"It was no real major issue, but I think people are quite paranoid about the whole thing and as a result of that I'm looking at a bill for millions of dollars which I could have fixed up for less than US$100-US$200 very quickly. But you know, media gets hold of it and everybody gets hold of it and it helps fills newspapers and radio stations and TV stations, all that sort of thing but that's the way it is.

"The problem could have been fixed within 20 minutes by welding up the hole in the tank. It's a lot of money at this time and I prefer not to disclose it at this time because it's not a final figure. Initially, they (NEPA) wanted to make me pay a lot of money and there were a few things like monitoring the water for 12 months. So they revised their price and I just want to see a breakdown of what their prices are and then we'll discuss (reopening)," he told The Sunday Gleaner.

"It was my intention to come back and re-open the mine but it seems a bit hard and maybe after I've had a few sleeps and get over it I might re-assess the whole situation, but it's been a bit of a nightmare," he said.

Peter Knight, CEO of NEPA could not be reached for comment.

Full Caption
Housing, Environment and Water Minister, Hon Dr Horace
Chang (left), updating journalists on developments pertaining to a toxic
leak at the gold mine in Pennants, Clarendon, during a media briefing
at the offices of the National Environment and Planning Agency (NEPA),
Cross Roads, St Andrew, on July 18. Listening keenly are: Permanent
Secretary in the Ministry, Genefa Hibbert and Commissioner of the Mines
and Geology Division, Ministry of Energy and Mining, Clinton Thompson.