Ecotoxicology and Environmental Safety 46, 241}245 (2000)

Environmental Research, Section B

doi:10.1006/eesa.2000.1938, available online at http://www.idealibrary.com on

COMMENTARY
The Cyanide Leaching Gold Recovery Process Is a Nonsustainable
Technology with Unacceptable Impacts on Ecosystems and Humans:
The Disaster in Romania
Friedhelm Korte,* Michael Spiteller,- and Frederick Coulston?
*Department of Ecological Chemistry, Institute of Chemistry, Technical University of Munich, Schulstrasse 10, D-85356 Freising-Attaching, Germany;
-Institute of Environmental Research, University of Dortmund, Otto-Hahn-Strasse 6, D-44221 Dortmund, Germany; and ?Coulston Foundation,
2512 Christina Place, Alamogordo, New Mexico 88310

Received March 14, 2000

a chemical process and should at least be carried out ac-

The statements and discussions in this commentary are based cording to the accepted rules of the chemical industry.
on the disastrous situation near Baia Mare in Romania, where However, this is not the case in present operations world-
a dam of a cyanide basin burst on January 30, 2000, with serious wide (Korte and Coulston, 1994; Korte, 1999).
consequences.  2000 Academic Press

AMALGAM PROCESS

Gold is a naturally occurring element. Because of its
beauty, ability to shine more intensely after melting, easy
recovery, and chemical stability, gold has been used for
many human activities, such as remuneration and trade
(Pliny the Elder, about 2000 years ago; Ullmann, 1957;
Falbe and Regitz, 1997). Its softness allows the production
of thin foils for decoration of huge buildings, such as
churches.
Gold is one of the rarest elements on earth. Its concentra-
tion is &4 mg/t (ppb) in the upper crust and 0.01 mg/m in
seawater. The largest amount of gold is likely, found in
oxide shells in the form of pure gold or gold tellurite,
respectively gold selenite. From there, it reaches the upper
layer of the earth through hydrothermal processes and can
be isolated by various means. The largest gold mine is
Witwatersrand in South Africa, which is 1000}3000 m be-
neath the surface. In many mines worldwide, gold is current-
ly recovered from ores with yields of between 0.5 and
13.7 g gold/t rocks. For example, the mine in Kasperske
Hory, Czech Republic (TVX Gold Inc.), provides
9.27 g gold/t rocks, and 3,360,000 t rocks were planned to be
ground and then recovered by physical and chemical
methods (Korte, 1993). Most of the real gold mines, where
gold can be isolated by typical mining procedures, are
exhausted today.
The present cyanide leaching gold recovery (CLGR) pro-
cess cannot be regarded as a typical mining process. It is
241
In 1994, global gold production amounted to about
2200 t, 200 t of which was obtained via the artisanal gold
recovery process. Rocks containing gold are ground and
amalgamated with mercury. The moldable amalgam is
washed out and separated with vaporous mercury and gold
as residues. In industrialized countries, gold is then pro-
cessed into the pure element. For decades, this process has
been performed by families (women and children, in particu-
lar) in Latin America and Africa.
One kilogram of mercury is needed for the recovery of 1 g
of gold. So far, about 5000 t of mercury has been released
into the environment in South America, and 50% of this has
been released into the atmosphere. Artisanal gold recovery
is only &&suitable'' for poor one-man businesses and is, of
course, not acceptable on a scienti"c basis (UNIDO, 1997;
Baur and Kornhuber, 2000) or from an ethical point of view
(Birnbacher, 1982, 1996).
FLOTATION PROCESS AND DENSITY SEPARATION
Despite much research, at present no alternative process
is available for inexpensive gold concentration. One could
consider extraction processes in a closed system or #otation
processes, which involve the use of selectively acting foam-
ing substances. However, this would require enormous
quantities of water to #oat the ground ore. Many

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All rights of reproduction in any form reserved.
242 COMMENTARY

water-soluble pollutants would then be made available to cyanide leaching process. Even though the companies
the environment and the food chain. So far, none of the change the description of the gold recovery process, it is still
potential new ore #otation processes have been tested, on the cyanide leaching procedure. The CLGR process for the
a large scale, under realistic outdoor practical conditions. recovery of pure gold is certainly an extreme case, as it is
In addition to standard terrestrial mining operations, a mixture of a normal mining and an unacceptable chemical
research is being done to understand the mineral resources process.
of the seabed. Before such operations can be used for com- The CLGR process should never be called a recycling
mercial purposes, a thorough investigation of their e!ects process. Furthermore, in many countries the mining laws
on marine #ora and fauna is essential (Herzig, 1994; IUCN, and the environmental chemical acts are not harmonized
1995, 1996). and are still subject to di!erent environmental legislation.
However, it is obvious that many mining processes require
particularly careful supervision, due to the use of highly
CYANIDE LEACHING GOLD RECOVERY PROCESS
toxic chemicals.
With regard to gold leaching, the basic process is current-
The CLGR process, described by TuK prag Metal Mining
ly used by the same company groups in at least four di!er-
Ltd. and in the Korte treatise (1993) on a gold recovery
ent countries, Turkey, the Czech Republic, Greece, and
project in Turkey, is the most important technical process
Romania, and also in other parts of the world.
used globally today. Annually, 250,000 t rocks with gold
concentrations of 3 g/t are ground. The material after grind-
SITUATION IN TURKEY
ing is extracted with a solution of 125 t of sodium cyanide in
365,000 m water. Throughout the treatment, with activated
Until 1990, TuK prag Metal Mining Ltd. (a subsidiary of
carbon and reduction, elemental gold can be recovered from
Preussag AG) used the CLGR process in Turkey. In 1990,
the solution. The remaining 0.05% sodium cyanide solution
one of the authors was asked by 13 district mayors in
is stored in open ponds without further treatment. Possible
Turkey to prepare an ecological chemical manuscript. The
remediation costs of the ponds and dams must be "nanced
paper was published in 1993, after discussion with the lead-
by the public. After several years this waste will amount to
ing agents of Preussag AG*at that time the operating
approximately 2 million m of cyanide solution, including
company. Until now, the scienti"c statement has not been
many heavy metals, which have also been released by the
contradicted. Moreover, the data were con"rmed at various
CLGR process.
national and international meetings, e.g., in Istanbul at the
The toxicity of HCN to aquatic organisms could prob-
scienti"c symposium Scienti"c Aspects of Gold Extraction
ably be reduced oxidatively. However, even more chemicals
Using Cyanide held at the Technical University of Istanbul,
would be needed (e.g., H O , Caro's acid), and undesirable
  Faculty of Mining Sciences, Istanbul, Turkey (June 26}27,
N compounds would result on a large scale (Degussa bro-
1997) through the Pergamon Declaration that &&based
chure; Devuyst and Conard, 1995; Korte and Coulston,
on current evidence, including the technologies in-
1998). Annually, 750 kg of gold will be recovered by this
volved and a knowledge of the natural and cultural
process. An engineer would describe the total operation as
environment, and the planned extraction of gold in the
a hazardous disposal site (Hessisches Ministerium fuK r Um-
Bergama (Pergamon) region was ruled not acceptable''
welt and Reaktorsicherheit, 1986), which cannot be handled
in Edremit/Turkey at the Conventus 99 Gold Recovery
in a proper way.
through Cyanide Leaching Process. Arbitration proceed-
A simple price calculation veri"es the possible pro"t: 1 t
ings, July 21, 1999. It is important that the Turkish
NaCN (chemical price) costs US $ 1500; 1 t NaCN extracts
population and various political groups refused to agree to
6 kg Au, which is valued at US $ 58,522.
this hazardous gold mining and leaching process. After
The criticism of the globally applied CLGR process has
several demonstrations and TV and "lm reports, as well as
not been made public by the international literature, or at
legal proceedings, this particular gold mining process was
scienti"c meetings and the Internet (e.g., http://www.korte-
prohibited by the Turkish Supreme Court in 1999. Despite
goldmining.de). Also, interested journalists, politicians, and
the fact that the national authorities in Germany and the
local people have not actively protested since serious facts
leading agents of UNEP in Nairobi and in Paris were
are not generally known.
informed about these movements, none of them supported
the above-mentioned declaration. Furthermore, the advis-
APPLICATION OF THE LEACHING PROCESS 1990+2000 ory board of the Bavarian Forest Association held an im-
portant meeting in Lam, which is at the Bavarian}Czech
As a result of developments between 1990 and 2000, the border, on March 26, 1999, with Czech colleagues particip-
picture of global technological and "nancial development is ating. They also did not support the decision of the Turkish
alarming. Active companies conspicuously use the same Supreme Court.
 COMMENTARY
LEGAL AND POLITICAL ACTIVITIES WITHIN THE EU
AND WORLDWIDE
The Resolution of the European Parliament 1994: Res-
olution (B-0410/94), revised November 17, 1994, resulted in
prohibition of gold mining exploration near Pergamon and
Edremit, Turkey (OJED C 341 of December 5). The activ-
ities of the Mineral Policy Center (Washington, DC) gave
a general review of the international activities of NGOs to
stop the CLGR process.
However, the company involved did not discontinue its
gold mining activities in Turkey. Therefore, one of the
present authors presented the entire situation to the Presi-
dent of the EU Commission, on August 18, 1999. On Octo-
ber 11, 1999, the president reacted and informed the public
about his initiative to start a study concerning the disposal
of toxic waste generated by mining or other gold processing
operations under an order from the head o$ce, Environ-
ment. The "nal report, revealing recommendable measures,
is expected soon.
According to the Mineral Policy Center, Washing-
ton, DC, February 19, 2000, EPA will include data on the
mining industry in its regular publication series on pollu-
tants.
Within the EU and in particular Germany, the Environ-
mental Chemical Act was established more recently than the
mining law. Hence, there is no regulation for handling
hazardous mining wastes within the Environmental Chem-
ical Act.
The European Parliament published a special resolution
under B5-0164, 0167, 0168, 0173, and 0179/2000 and noted
that the technology used in Romania did not comply with
the EU environmental quality standards.
The claim of the European Parliament was published by
Isabelle Zerrouk, the press attacheH , and Helmut Weixler, the
press o$cer, on February 17, 2000, after a visit to the
disastrous region in Romania, which was headed by Paul
Lannoye. They stated: &&The Greens/EPA regret that irre-
sponsible multinational enterprises like the Australian Es-
meralda Exploration Ltd. take advantage of the weak
environmental regulation in Eastern Europe, thus menacing
the health and the life of human beings and animals.''
Lannoye continued:
A strong legislation on the liability for such disaster should be
established as soon as possible in and outside the EU. The EU must
now take initiatives so that the international community can pro-
hibit the use of the extremely dangerous cyanide in the extraction of
gold world-wide.
The author of this commentary would say &&one makes the
use of the CLGR process safer.''
After the prohibition of this process in Turkey, it seems
logical to transfer the prohibition into the EU in order to
correct the same situation worldwide.
243
SITUATION IN CZECH REPUBLIC
The initial intention to establish the CLGR process with-
in the Czech Republic became public as a result of the
initiatives in Turkey. The media, interested scientists, politi-
cians, and the public refused to agree with these proposals.
Finally, in 1999, Czech authorities withdrew initial approval
of the CLGR process and disclosed further negotiations.
SITUATION IN GREECE
Despite all discussion and public protests in Europe and
worldwide, in the 1990s this method of gold leaching recov-
ery was proposed by the same consortium of companies in
Greece as in Turkey. These companies have taken legal
action in Athens (Naftemporiki, 1999) to obtain permission
to implement the process. Information can be obtained
through the Internet, from the scientists and lawyers in-
volved, and from the Mayor of Olympiada. It is hard to
understand that the same method of gold mining is being
o!ered and discussed again by the same companies in
a country that is a part of the EU.
The introduction of an European regulatory authority,
similar to the TUG V (Technical Control Board), would be
helpful. Michail Papagiannakis, a member of the European
Parliament, has submitted an inquiry to the European
Commission regarding gold recovery in Greece and the
cyanide accident in the River Tisa region.
SITUATION IN ROMANIA
On January 30, 2000, the dam of a gold leaching retention
basin burst in northwestern Romania, near the city of Baia
Mare. It is not necessary to describe the disastrous situation
as international media are continuously reporting it. Why
the same industrial group was able to set up and use the
leaching process in Romania without being noticed by the
public should be explored. This is especially true after all the
discussion on the part of scientists, the people, and environ-
mental organizations. The disaster in Romania was predict-
able (KoK pf, 2000)!
SUMMARY
It is one of the objectives of this paper to state that the
CLGR process, in its present form, is not in agreement with
any kind of chemical pollution control in the environment
(Stirba et al., 2000).
The problems arising from the change of the chemistry of
million of tons of natural ore during the grinding procedure,
producing changes in the bioavailabilities of metals and
other ingredients, are not even considered. This is an area of
completely unknown scienti"c dimensions, which may have
244 COMMENTARY
unwanted and unpredictable consequences for humans and
the environment.
Living in a time where the word &&sustainability'' has
a certain weight, one must consider that the present CLGR
process with its mass return of 1 : 10 can never be sustain-
able. If industry develops a new process by extracting the
needed 250,000 t of ground rocks with 365,000 m of
a 0.05% aqueous sodium cyanide solution in a closed sys-
tem keeping all the operations, under control, the situation
should be reconsidered.
In fact, the problems with the CLGR process are connec-
ted not only with the use of huge amounts of NaCN in the
open environment, but with problems arising in the changes
of chemistry of millions of tons of natural ore during the
grinding procedure. This causes changes in the bioavailabil-
ities of metals and other ingredients. This predictable disas-
ter has not even been scienti"cally considered.
CONCLUSIONS
What is needed is a new method or technology to replace
the CLGR process. In the words of H. v. Michaelis, Presi-
dent of Randol International Ltd. (Engineering and Mining
Journal, pp. 44}47, June 1987), in his summary:
Non-cyanide lixiviants are not widely used for gold and silver
recovery at this time, and cyanide remains unchallenged as the best
all-around lixiviant. However, the non-cyanides may "nd potential
applications in future treatment of gravity concentrates or in situ-
ations where environmental constraints prevent the use of cyanide.
Bromine is used in at least one western US geochemical assay
laboratory as a means of obtaining rapid analyses of leachable gold
from samples.
In some cases where gold recoveries can be improved by leaching
with non-cyanide reagents, an incentive exists to examine the use of
such reagents as long as the increased costs of reagent consumption
do not o!set the bene"ts.
In cases where platinum group metals are present, an added
incentive may exist for a further look at the non-cyanide. (Korte,
1993).
Another simple approach to correcting the problem of
ponds and dams, for example, could be similar to the double
hulls used on oil-carrying ships to prevent oil spills (Hes-
sisches Ministerium fuK r Umwelt und Reaktorsicherheit,
1986). Another direction for improvement could be to avoid
the formation of the open air pond. It has been estimated
that 20,000 t of hydrogen cyanide (HCN) gas evaporates
yearly from the surfaces of ponds where this old fashioned
and unacceptable process is used. Since HCN has a half-life
of 267 days (Atkinson, 1985), it will accumulate in the
atmosphere and probably contribute to other climate-active
compounds in the air such as CO and methane. Chemists
 gions*Ecological Impact and Dutch Involvement.'' Netherlands Com-
could also "nd appropriate detoxi"cation techniques for
CN\.
This latest tragedy in Romania must be the last accident
using the CLGR process. Other accidents that have occur-
red all over the world for many years have been minor
compared to the Romanian accident. However, these disas-
ters have killed people and animals and changed the envi-
ronment.
The great chemical and mining industry producing gold
today should be able to prevent these constantly occurring
accidents either by altering the method or by using more
recycling by methods such as smelting. These changes will
protect humans and animals from the consequences of the
present disastrous and unacceptable process.
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Mineral Policy Center (2000). &&Government Gold Policies Promote Mass-
ive Environmental Damage and 100 Billion Tax payer Losses.'' Available
at http://www.mineralpolicy.org.
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