RIA Novosti reports that the controversy that has surrounded the Jerooy gold mine for the last year or so following the Kyrgyz government’s decision to recisind Oxus Gold’s licence in January 2006 is far from over.

It is reported that 800 people stormed the mine yesterday (May 16) demanding that it be closed in connection with the environmental risk it poses.

Tursunbek Akun, the chairman of the presidential commission on human rights, who traveled to Kyrgyzstan’s second-largest gold deposit at Dzerui to negotiate the situation, said protesters had tried to remove mining equipment from the site but had failed.

Given that mining is not generally an environmentally friendly process, the protesters may have a point that the mine is harmful for nearby villages. Moreover, mining companies records in Kyrgyzstan are far from pristine: the most infamous incident was the May 1998 2-ton cyanide spill into the Barskoon river near the Kumtor Gold Mine that caused several deaths and many more in need of medical treatment. Anger over the handling of this incident flared up in the wake of the events of March 2005, as bankwatch.org reports:

As a part of a wider increase of public dissent following the March 2005 revolution in Kyrgyzstan, protests against the 1998 cyanide pollution incident erupted. It was revealed that the money that Cameco paid the Kyrgyz government as compensation for residents of the polluted area was diverted for the personal benefit of top government officials. An ongoing lack of information disclosure, the inadequacy of the government emergency response and the corruption which is endemic among state officials have all contributed to the public’s distrust of both the project and foreign-financed development. To divert attention from the enduring controversies connected with Kumtor gold mine, the EBRD and IFC have recently engaged in the project of snow leopard protection in the neighbourhood of the mine.

Not exactly a ringing endorsement. Whilst generally I’m doubtful about the effectiveness of public protests, there is no doubt that in an increasingly eco-aware world this is exactly the sort of publicity that big corporations do not want. Kumtor, for example, was quick to put out a statement that picketing of a road near to the mine from May 4 - 11 had ended, and 24.kg also published an appeal from Kumtor workers to the government concerning the mine’s future on May 11:

“Rumors and downright lie from the side of some politicians regarding our job, raises not only pure bewilderment but extreme indignation. Counting the benefit from mining, nobody thinks about efforts and expenses, which are required to mine gold. Nobody cares about planning and calculations, and possible consequences of their hasty deeds. Nobody thinks about more than two thousands people working there.”

The Kyrgyz government is therefore caught between the conflicting interests of different groups. It can only be hoped that the Kyrgyz government manages to steer a considered course to manage these interests in a sensitive and transparent way to avoid charges of politicians profiteering. Realistically, however, further protests from one group or another are likely, given that there is no solution that is satisfactory for all parties.