No cyanide technology should be used for extraction of gold in Bulgaria's Chelopech mine, as several other technologies are available that do not harm the human health and the environment, eco-activists, economists and engineers said during a news conference on March 21.

Dedicated to the recently re-negotiated mining concession with Canadian firm Dundee Precious Metals, the discussion  was organised by Ecoforum association, the coalition Bulgaria Without Cyanides (BWC), Underground Treasures (UT) association and the Scientists’ Union in Bulgaria.

Participants agreed that the concession contract with Dundee has to be legally terminated and its investment proposal rejected.

According to Konstantin Dichev, a BWC and Green Balkans Federation representative, no cyanide technology should be allowed, because then Dundee would have to build a huge gold extracting facility in Chelopech. In such a case, it would be very likely that not only would the firm mine other deposits in the country, but it would also start importing raw material from its other fields abroad and purify them in Bulgaria.

“This would condemn the whole southern Bulgaria to contamination of its waters,” Dichev told The Sofia Echo.

According to the environmentalists, Environment and Water Affairs Minister Djevdet Chakurov was guilty of dereliction of duty by playing the role of a negotiator in an economic deal, forgetting the environmental side of the issue.

In 2007 Chakurov had allowed the results of a local referendum in Krumovgrad, banning the use of cyanide technology for gold extraction there. Since the population in the area is mostly of Turkish descent, which is the backbone of the support for the Movement of Rights and Freedoms that Chakurov is a member of, he's been accused of this catering to his party's voters.

Engineers claimed that modern mechanical methods allowed to extract nearly as much gold as using cyanide, the drop-off in production being only two per cent. Cyanide technology, however, is also the cheapest and is used for 90 per cent of the global gold extraction. Only four per cent of that figure was in Europe - in Romania, Spain and Sweden.

Chelopech mine was initially shut down in 1995 because the surrounding area was already too contaminated, engineer Ognyan Kovadjiiski said. Cyanide remains in the ore once gold has been extracted from it and usually dumped in storages. A cyanide spill, however unlikely, in southern Bulgaria, where Chelopech is located, would endanger the lives of tens of thousands of people if it reaches the underground water streams.