Landslide in gold mine in Turkey

A landslide occurred in Çöpler Gold Mine in Erzincan. Cyanide solution and soil were scattered into nature. It is stated that 9 workers who could not be reached remained underground.

The Ministry of Energy made a statement regarding the incident: “According to initial findings, 9 mine employees cannot be reached as a result of the shift.”

Minister of Justice Yılmaz Tunç announced that an investigation was launched into the landslide.

The mine is operated by a Canadian company

Çöpler Gold Mine is operated by Anagold Mining. 80 percent of Anagold belongs to the Canadian gold mining company Alacer Gold, whose tax debt was previously erased, and 20 percent belongs to Lidya Madencilik, a part of the Çalık Group.

Eşref Demir, one of the people of the region, said, “We have said many times what could happen and expressed it in our petitions. But they told us that this was the most reliable and largest gold mine. Two-thirds of the ore dumping area has disappeared. Cyanide soil and solution spread around. “No one has been able to intervene for 1 and a half hours,” he said.

In 2022, 20 tons of cyanide solution were scattered around the mining facility, which has been poisoning the region for many years.

The facility, whose operations were suspended due to cyanide leakage, was fined 16.4 million Turkish Liras. However, the facility became operational again in a short time.

In 2021, the capacity increase for the project was approved for the second time.

According to the statements in the environmental report, the amount of chemicals used in the facility in a year is as follows:

11 thousand tons of cyanide
122 thousand tons of sulfuric acid
50 kilograms of nitric acid

It was revealed that SSR Mining’s tax debt of $ 7.2 million was erased in 2023.