GUYANA

A public enquiry
into the leakage of cyanide in
August from a gold mine -
one of South America's
largest - has been stymied
because it has run out of witnesses.

An "environmental disaster" is how the Guyanese
government had dubbed the
leak of an estimated 3.5 million cubic metres of cyanide
waste into a tributary of the
Essequibo river. The company responsible for the
leakage, Omai Gold Mines,
prefers to call it an "industrial accident" and says it will
provide compensation for
any damage caused by the
cyanideleak.

Though the Canadian
owned mine shut down in
August for an indefinite period, it now feels it is ready to
restart operations by
December. The government
however, chooses to differ.
Guyana's president, Cheddi
Jagan, is quite clear that the
mine will be reopened only if
the government is convinced
that there is no further risk of
cyanide leakage in the future.