JIKANDOR, Liberia -- For generations, families successful Jikandor colony fished and drank from the stream that runs done Liberia ’s dense rainfall forest. Now toxic contamination is making them leave.
They blasted the largest golden miner successful Liberia, Bea Mountain Mining Corporation. When dormant food interval to the surface, they said, they cognize to archer authorities. But for years determination has been small response.
“If we don’t move, we volition die,” colony main Mustapha Pabai said.
Over respective years, cyanide, arsenic and copper repeatedly leaked from Bea Mountain's substandard facilities astatine levels that Liberia's Environmental Protection Agency described arsenic supra ineligible limits. That's according to EPA reports that were taken down from its tract but aboriginal retrieved, arsenic good arsenic interviews with authorities officials, experts and erstwhile institution employees.
They supply the astir broad accounting yet of the spills. The EPA documents besides amusement that Bea Mountain failed to alert regulators promptly aft a spill successful 2022 and antecedently blocked authorities inspectors arsenic they tried to entree the company’s laboratory and presumption results of testing.
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This communicative was reported successful collaboration with The Gecko Project, a nonprofit newsroom reporting connected biology issues. The reporting was supported by the Pulitzer Center. AP is solely liable for each content. Find AP’s standards for moving with philanthropies, a database of supporters, and funded sum areas astatine AP.org.
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The incidents constituent to failures successful firm work that “can lone beryllium described arsenic sustained negligence,” said Mandy Olsgard, a Canadian toxicologist who reviewed the EPA reports obtained successful an probe by The Associated Press and The Gecko Project.
The reports besides exposure the Liberian government's failures to clasp the institution to account. The authorities holds a 5% involvement successful the mining operations. Under Liberian law, the authorities tin suspend oregon terminate licenses if a miner doesn’t fulfill its obligations. But anemic enforcement is common, with the World Bank citing constricted authorities capacity.
In effect to the investigation, the country's precocious dismissed curate of mines, Wilmot Paye, said helium was “appalled by the harm being done to our country” and that the authorities was reviewing each concession agreements. The outspoken curate was dismissed successful October.
The golden that Bea Mountain mines is sold to Swiss refiner MKS PAMP, which is successful the proviso chains of immoderate of the world's largest companies including Nvidia and Apple. The probe could not corroborate what companies yet utilized the gold.
MKS PAMP said it had commissioned an autarkic appraisal of the New Liberty mine, the largest of 5 mines that Bea Mountain operates successful Liberia, successful aboriginal 2025, and said it recovered nary ground to chopped ties but identified areas for betterment related to wellness and safety. A follow-up sojourn is planned for 2026.
MKS PAMP declined to stock the assessment’s findings, citing confidentiality. It said it would extremity the narration if Bea Mountain doesn’t improve.
Between July 2021 and December 2022, the astir caller play for which figures could beryllium obtained, Bea Mountain exported much than $576 cardinal worthy of golden from Liberia. It contributed $37.8 cardinal to authorities coffers during that time.
Bea Mountain is controlled by Murathan Günal done Avesoro Resources. Murathan is the lad of Turkish billionaire Mehmet Nazif Günal, whose concern interests see the Mapa Group. Avesoro Resources and Mapa Group did not respond to requests for comment.
Extracting golden from ore often involves cyanide, a chemic that astatine precocious levels tin origin terrible neurological harm and tin beryllium fatal if ingested, inhaled oregon absorbed done the skin. Cyanide indispensable beryllium treated earlier it enters and erstwhile it leaves a tailings dam, a retention tract for mining waste.
Other toxic substances, including arsenic, often recovered successful golden mining besides airs superior wellness risks if not decently controlled.
The Günals took implicit Bea Mountain successful 2016, acquiring it from Aureus Mining, a UK-listed golden producer, aft years of warnings.
In 2012, Canadian consultancy Golder Associates recovered a hazard of contamination of section rivers from the New Liberty mine’s tailings dam and warned that seepage would breach Liberia's drinking h2o standards. Two years later, the Digby Wells consultancy flagged cyanide and arsenic arsenic cardinal risks and suggested measures to forestall contamination.
In 2015, a twelvemonth earlier accumulation began, a 3rd consultancy, SRK, warned that arsenic could transcend World Health Organization standards for drinking h2o if not decently managed.
Before accumulation began, the International Finance Corporation, an limb of the World Bank, paid $19.2 cardinal for an equity involvement successful Bea Mountain's genitor institution to make the New Liberty mine. But the U.S. typical connected the IFC committee abstained, informing successful a 2014 missive that the task lacked basal safeguards and raising concerns astir the tailings dam and gaps successful the biology assessment.
It was not wide whether the IFC inactive holds a stake, and it didn't respond to questions.
Bea Mountain had pledged to travel strict h2o absorption rules and follow the Cyanide Management Code, a planetary modular recommending contamination limits and requiring autarkic audits.
The archetypal spill documented by the EPA came successful the archetypal period of afloat production. In March 2016, conscionable earlier the Günals' acquisition of Bea Mountain, cyanide and arsenic leaked from the New Liberty mine. Dead food floated downstream. Residents reported tegument rashes.
The institution paused operations but publically downplayed the spill, saying “there has been nary adverse interaction connected immoderate quality settlement.”
It was the archetypal of 4 EPA-confirmed cases astatine the excavation successful which Bea Mountain exceeded authorities contamination limits.
In June 2020, EPA inspectors recovered Bea Mountain operating an unapproved wastewater system, and detected h2o contaminated with precocious levels of copper and iron. When inspectors tried to look astatine the company’s h2o investigating data, Bea Mountain refused.
“Physical entree to the laboratory was besides not approved,” the EPA said successful 1 report.
That month, Bea Mountain withdrew from the Cyanide Management Code without ever undergoing an audit, said Eric Schwamberger, a elder authoritative astatine the International Cyanide Management Institute that oversees the code. He called specified withdrawals uncommon.
In May 2022, dormant food drifted down Marvoe Creek, which flows past Jikandor colony and into the Mafa River that runs to the Atlantic. The EPA reported that a spill from Bea Mountain’s tailings dam had suffocated the food “due to vulnerability to higher than permissible limits" of cyanide.
The institution knew astir the contamination but failed to notify the assemblage and the EPA "until downstream communities archetypal started observing dormant food species,” the EPA study said. Companies are required to study specified spills wrong 72 hours.
More than 10 miles (16 kilometers) downstream successful Wangekor village, residents said they hauled successful dormant food earlier immoderate informing reached them. They believed the bounty was “a acquisition from God,” said Philip Zodua, a typical of communities on the river.
Six residents of villages downstream of the Bea Mountain excavation asserted that they and their families fell sick aft eating food from the stream successful June 2022.
One villager, Korto Tokpa, said she saw children collecting dormant and dying fish. “They each were sick, vomiting, throwing up and going to the toilet the full night” aft consuming them, she said.
However, nary tests were carried retired connected the villagers. Independent biology scientists and toxicology experts said determination is insufficient grounds to place contamination arsenic the origin of the reported illnesses.
“Without due investigating and transparent data, the existent risks cannot beryllium understood, and communities are near carrying each the uncertainty,” said Olsgard, the toxicologist. “It is the company’s work to capable these gaps urgently.”
When EPA inspectors arrived astatine the excavation to trial the h2o days aft the spill, they recovered arsenic and cyanide levels good supra ineligible limits.
Schwamberger said the cyanide concentrations reported by the EPA, from h2o flowing retired of the tailings dam, were much than 10 times the attraction “that would typically beryllium considered to beryllium lethal to fish.”
In February 2023, different spill occurred. The EPA documented “a immense quantity of earthy copper sulfate” leaking into the environment. Six of 9 h2o samples breached ineligible limits for cyanide and copper.
An EPA authoritative progressive successful the May 2022 investigation, speaking connected information of anonymity due to the fact that they were not authorized to sermon the matter, said the mine’s tailings dam had been primitively built excessively small, a plan flaw that aboriginal caused it to overflow.
While EPA inspectors repeatedly recommended fines aft the spills, lone 1 punishment was issued by the regulator, a $99,999 good successful 2018 that was aboriginal reduced to $25,000. It was not wide why.
In a written effect to questions from the AP and The Gecko Project, the EPA acknowledged 3 “pollution incidents” betwixt 2016 and 2023 successful which laboratory tests recovered “higher than permissible levels" of cyanide. It besides confirmed food deaths were caused by cyanide, copper sulfate and arsenic leaking from the mine’s tailings dam. It was not wide wherefore the EPA did not admit the 4th spill.
The EPA said the spills it documented occurred earlier the agency’s existent enactment took bureau successful 2024. It said it had ordered Bea Mountain to prosecute an EPA-certified advisor and reenforce the tailings dam, and that the measures were implemented. It did not accidental erstwhile that occurred.
“No entity is supra the law,” the bureau said.
Following an EPA recommendation, a legally binding statement was reached successful May 2025 for Bea Mountain to relocate and compensate Jikandor village, the assemblage closest to the mine.
Bea Mountain is present exploring caller golden reserves elsewhere successful Liberia.
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Aviram reported from London.
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