Malawi Civil Society Against Paladin to
discharge Kayerekera Uranium mine Water
The Malawi Civil Society Organisations under the
banner of Natural Resources Justice Network (NRJN), traditional leaders, local communities
against Paladin Africa Limited's intentions to discharge contaminated water
from the trailings dam at Kayerekera Uranium mine into Sere or North Rukuru
Rivers.
This call comes few days following recommendation
by the National Water Development & Management Technical Committee in the
Ministry of Agriculture for the Minister to issue a permit allowing Paladin
Africa Limited to discharge water from the tailings ponds at the Kayelekera
Uranium Mine into the Sere or North Rukuru Rivers. The Committee contented that
Paradin has satisfied International recommendation of treating water safe for
drinking.
NRJN has released a statement expressing their
stand on the matter and it has set 7 days which the deadline is Wednesday 26th November, 2014 demanding
Paradin to give them an official statement confirming it did not discharge its
water otherwise the group shall explore all means to ensure that Paladin
does not endanger the lives of poor Malawians.
The CSOs are of no doubt of tailings, which are
mainly in the form of sludge (mud), comprise of waste uranium rocks, acids, and
other chemicals that if the decision is effected “there shall be escalated
radiation exposure to the people near the area including contamination of the
rivers that directly drains into Lake Malawi. It is a known fact that the used
in the processing of the yellow cake.
The statement issued on 19th November 2014 has eight
signatories among them NRJN Board chairperson, chiefs and other organisations
that are representing local communities.
NRJN has more than 33 CSOs who are actively in
the extractive industry sector in Malawi under the network such organizations
includes, FOCUS, Citizen for Justice(CFJ), Action Aid - Malawi, Centre for Human
Rights and Rehabilitation (CHRR), IPI, CCJP, CCAP Livingstonia Synod Church and
Society Programme, CEPA, MEJN, amongst several others.
Read the Statement
Malawi Civil
Society Organisations, Traditional leaders, local communities, and religious
leaders against Paladin Africa Limited’s intentions to discharge contaminated
water from the tailings dam at Kayerekera Uranium Mine into Sere/North Rukuru
Rivers.
We, the
under-mentioned members of the Natural Resources Justice Network (NRJN) – a
grouping of over 33 civil society organizations, who are active in the Extractive
Industry Sector (Mining, oil and gas) and including Local Community members,
Traditional Authorities, faith Leaders and concerned citizens around Karonga ,
do hereby express our rave concerns following the recommendation by the
National Water Development & Management Technical Committee in the Ministry
of Agriculture for the Minister to issue a permit allowing Paladin Africa
Limited to discharge water from the tailings ponds at the Kayelekera Uranium
Mine into the Sere / North Rukuru Rivers which will eventually flow into Lake
Malawi 50 kilometres downstream.
Our collective
position on the matter follows the Sumuka Inn declaration where members
of the Natural Resources Justice Network, local community members , chiefs,
church leaders and concerned citizens living in Karonga convened at Sumuka Inn
in Karonga to deliberate on Paladin Africa’s intentions to effect such an
exercise, which according to the delegates and also in the absence of adequate,
convincing information, posed serious imminent and future environmental and
human rights implications on the country especially on the people living in
Karonga district. The meeting, which was held on 4th November 2014, came up
with several recommendations and demands for both Paladin and Malawi government
to act upon with utmost urgency. Prior to the Sumuka Inn declaration,
Paladin Africa bankrolled and facilitated the summoning of a District Executive
meeting at Karonga district council on 28th October with the objective of
buying political support from the members as well as invited chiefs present at
the meeting just to support their highly questionable plan to discharge toxic
effluent into natural river systems.
According to
officials from Paladin Africa Ltd present at the meeting, Paladin fears that if
the water from the tailings dam is not released into Rukuru River then there is
a high risk that the contaminated water from the dam would overflow as a result
of the impending rains. It was, however, very clear from the deliberations and
outcome of the said DEC meeting that the popular opinion wasn’t convinced to
support their stance, and hence expressed their deep reservations against the
move. Paladin claims the water to be discharged will be managed to meet the
World Health Organisation (WHO) drinking water guideline for uranium, which is
30 micrograms per litre. Paladin said that there would be no risk to people
drawing water for domestic purposes from the river system downstream from
Kayelekera Uranium Mine, nor any threat to the environment.
However, it is beyond reasonable doubt that if
the decision is effected there shall be escalated radiation exposure doses,
primarily to the people of Karonga and most parts of Malawi in general since
the river directly drains into Lake Malawi. It is a known fact that the
tailings, which are mainly in the form of sludge (mud), comprise of waste
uranium rocks, acids, and other chemicals used in the processing of the yellow
cake. This means that as long-lived decay products such as thorium-230 and
radium-226 are not removed, the sludge still contains 85% of the initial
radioactivity of the ore. Due to technical limitations through the process of
extracting yellow cake, all of the uranium present in the ore cannot be
extracted. As a result the sludge still contains 5% to 10% of the uranium
initially present in the ore. In addition, the sludge contains heavy metals and
other contaminants such as arsenic, as well as chemical reagents used during
the uranium milling process. Radioactive nuclides take thousands of years to
become relatively harmless i.e. the level of radioactivity of the tailings
remains constant for more than 10,000 years. There is thus, a strong
possibility of the people living along the river banks and beside the Lake
being exposed to unnaturally high levels of radiation and water toxicity.
In addition, confirmed reports indicate that the
Kayelekera Tailings Storage Facility is holding one of the highest grade ore
which had been dumped due to uranium extraction complications that arose
because of the nature of rocks that were intercepted at depth hence most of it
went to the tailings as effluents. This is even a rare case in most of the
tailings at world standard. As such we do not subscribe to the claims by
Paladin that the water to be released into the environment would be free of
radio-nuclides, as there is no scientifically proven process supporting such
claims.
The fact that Paladin fears overflowing from the
tailings ponds, is indicative of major flaws in the design and construction of
the tailings pond. It is however very shocking and inhumane for Paladin to put
the lives of millions of Malawians at risk as a result of their own failure to
plan properly.
The dismal past track record of governmental
monitoring and regulation of mining operations does not inspire confidence. We
therefore insist that no permit to dump waste effluent be granted to Paladin
(or anyone else) until such time as we are assured that the relevant Ministries
are fully capacitated to maintain constant vigil of an international standard
on the quality and purity of the waste water on a long term basis.
It therefore seems to be a callous disregard for
the rule of law and adherence to their EIA for Paladin to resort to such
strategies simply to minimise their costs. In simplest terms we would say that
Paladin is taking advantage of the weak laws and the relatively low capacity of
the law enforcement system in Malawi.
We therefore ask Paladin to build a second
tailings dam as was the initial plan and consequently refrain from this
malicious practice of discharging radioactive effluents into the river systems,
which would subject lives of innocent Malawians to a series of acute and
chronic health effects.The short, medium to long term health hazards emanating
from exposure to high levels of radiation include lung cancer, skin cancer,
cancer of the throat, nausea, loss of hair, etc.
We also caution the Government of Malawi through
the minister for Agriculture to refrain from rushing into granting permission
to Paladin Africa to dispose such wastes in the absence of clear, honest wide
consultations and dissemination of the information on the matter. We would view
the act as, not only undemocratic and hence a clear human rights violation, but
also an indicator of the perennial cancer that has become of our governments of
not putting the interests of their subjects at heart. More disheartening is the
opacity with which the Malawi government appears to have conducted the dealings
with Paladin Africa on the matter, that it took the efforts of some Civil
Society leaders and communities to unearth these clandestine moves which have
no place in the democratic dispensation. Perhaps, this is the reason why the
government continues to postpone the tabling of access to information
legislation in parliament for passing into the law as well as the public
release of the environmental assessment audit report which remain within the
confines of those in authority. This must be condemned in the strongest terms.
We remind the
Government of Malawi of their constitutional responsibility to nurture and
maintain environmental sanctity for future generations as enshrined in S13 (d)
of our Constitution, which amongst other things, states that the Government
shall manage the environment responsibly in order to:
i. prevent the degradation of the environment;
ii. provide a healthy living and working environment for the people of
Malawi;
iii. accord full recognition to the rights of future generations by
means of environmental protection and the sustainable development of natural
resources; and
iv. conserve and enhance the biological
diversity of Malawi.
We therefore
demand that:
i)
Paladin immediately halts the process of discharging
radioactive effluents into our river system. Instead Paladin should conform to
the initial plans of building a second tailings dam. In this regard, we are
giving Paladin Africa Limited a maximum of 7days (up to Wednesday 26th
November, 2014) to give us an official statement confirming that this practice
has been stopped. We demand that Paladin should conform to the plant design
recommendations of building a second tailings dam. Failing to abide by this, we
the undersigned shall explore all means at our disposal to ensure that Paladin
does not endanger the lives of poor Malawians.
ii)
Within a maximum of seven days (up to
Wednesday 26th November, 2014) Paladin should inform the whole nation the
actual reason why they would want to release water from the tailings dam. The
tailings dam does not collect surface running water and as such there is no way
the tailings dam would overflow because of just rainwater.
iii) Government should urgently set up an independent
water quality monitoring team for the Kayelekera Uranium Mine, which shall
comprise amongst others civil society representatives, chiefs, local community
members, and relevant independent technocrats. We further demand that a
detailed environmental audit be done in a transparent manner with the results
made public.
iv)
Government must under no circumstances allow
Paladin to release water from the tailings dam into the river system pending
wider consultations with stakeholders. Local communities alongside civil
society organizations and other key independent technical stakeholders should
be extensively consulted on the matter by both government and Paladin.
The
statement has been signed by Kossam Jomo Munthali NRJN Board chairperson and
Reinford Mwangonde NRJN national coordinator.
Representing
the local communities, Paramount Chief Kyungu, Senior Tradional Authority
Kalonga, Harry Mwanyembe Councillor for
Rukuru Ward, Patrick Kishombe Chairperson for Karonga district council,
Winston Mwagomba Uhara Foundation and Ruth Chaula District Coordinator for
Karonga Women Forum.
