🚀 go-pugleaf

The following has been forwarded for PIRA Communications:

9 January 1996                                  IMMEDIATE RELEASE

                            Cyanide snow job in Guyana

A white wash of staggering proportions was the reaction of the Working 
People's Alliance MP Dr. Rupert Roopnaraine and the National 
Committee for Defense Against Omai to yesterday's release of the 
National Commission of Enquiry's report examining last August's spill of 
two billion litres of cyanide sludge into Guyana's Omai and Essequibo 
rivers. 

"Not only did Cambior exert private pressure on Guyana's Prime Minister 
to influence the Commission's proceedings, it achieved its deadline to re-
open Omai regardless of the environmental or health consequences," said 
Roopnaraine. "Cambior did everything but edit the Commission's 
punctuation."

Roopnaraine contrasted Cambior's haste with two investigations into North 
American mining disasters.

"As the 1992 Westray mining disaster hears testimony and the Colorado 
Grand Jury investigating the 1990 Summitville cyanide disaster continues, 
Cambior is given the green light to re-open Omai a mere five months after 
one of the worst mining disasters in South America."

U.S. lawyer Dennison Smith, who has worked extensively with the 
National Committee, pointed to the fact that the Commission has failed to 
conclusively find the cause for this disaster and yet is ready to risk re-
opening Omai.

Smith also contrasted the fact that two weeks after the spill, Cambior told 
shareholders Omai would re-open within 6 months. Despite Cambior's 
failed attempt to get the Enquiry to wrap-up before the end of November, 
Cambior will still meet its original deadline.

"Incredibly, Cambior was allowed to start building a second tailings dam, 
even before the Commission reported on what went wrong with the first 
dam," said Smith. "Not only has Cambior effectively written Guyana's 
Environmental laws and broken those laws, it has now apparently 
succeeded in determining how the law should be enforced."

Montrial lawyer James Hughes, retained to represent the National 
Committee in Canada, suggested Cambior seriously review the legal 
implications of re-opening the mine without sufficient proof that it can be 
operated safely.

"After two cyanide spills in 1995, Cambior has a duty to Guyana, if not 
to its shareholders to ensure that it does not recklessly endanger the lives 
and health of local residents," said Hughes. "The Commission didn't just 
sweep this disaster under the carpet, they've pried up the floor boards, to 
make certain no one ever gets a peek at the true causes behind this 
disaster." 

                                                                - 30 - 

For more information:

Dennison Smith/James Hughes (514) 393-3883
Dr. Rupert Roopnaraine 011-592-2-56624/53679
National Committee for Defense Against Omai 011-592-2-74321
PIRA Communications (514) 393-3883