Click for larger viewLocal residents are blocking access to the Canadian-owned and -operated Kumtor gold mine in eastern Kyrgyzstan to protest health and environmental damage caused by a cyanide spill in 1998.  The government is threatening to send in armed forces to disperse the demonstrators.

Output at the Kumtor mine, operated by Canadian miner Centerra Gold Inc. <CG.TO>, accounted for more than four percent of Kyrgyzstan's gross domestic product last year.

"The Kyrgyzstan government has ordered law enforcement agencies to use strong force in case participants block roads and violate public order," the government said in a statement.

The protestors are calling for the government to re-nationalise Kumtor, and a bill to effect this has been introduced in the country’s parliament. However, Foreign Minister Ednan Karabaev has assured the Canadian ambassador that the government has no plans to nationalise the mining venture.

In May 1998 a mining truck accidentally overturned and dumped more than 1.5 tons of cyanide into the Barskaun River, which drains into nearby Lake Issyk-Kul.  Over 2500 people are believed to have been affected, with 800 requiring hospital treatment.  The mine paid $4.6 million in damages, but high-ranking government officials embezzled most of the funds, and local residents received little benefit.

Kumtor, among the largest gold mining complexes in the world, was launched as a joint venture between Kyrgyzstan and Cameco Corporation.  In January 2004, by mutual agreement, the assets were transferred to Centerra Gold, a new publicly traded Canadian company, with Cameco holding the majority of shares.  The Kyrgyz government presently owns 16% of Centerra.

The mine is located in a mountainous and glaciated region south of Lake Issyk-Kul, 60 kilometres northwest of the Chinese border.