Wednesday 10 April 2013

Massive Exploitation of Mineral Resources Caused Mining Disaster in Tibet: CTA report

Last week, Environment and Development Desk (EDD) issued a press statement refuting Chinese government's claim that the landslide in Gyama mine was a "natural disaster".  EDD expressed its fear that this tragic incident could be a result of the aggressive expansion and large-scale exploitation of mineral in the Gyama Valley—a man-made phenomenon rather than just a ‘natural disaster’.

Today, Central Tibetan Administration issued the following press release about the "Assessment Report of the Recent Devastating Landslide in Gyama Valley" prepared by EDD. The report dwell in great detail about the possible man-made cause of the event that claimed at least 83 lives.

Press Release

April 10, 2013

Central Tibet Administration has enough evidence to prove that Gyama (Jiama) mining tragedy is man-made disaster

The environmental researchers of the Central Tibetan Administration (CTA) based in Dharamsala, India, refute reports in the China’s official media outlets stating that natural causes triggered the recent landslide at a copper and gold mine near in Tibet’s capital Lhasa which killed at least 83 miners. The Environment and Development Desk of CTA has released a 16-page report titled ”Assessment Report of the Recent Devastating Landslide in Gyama Valley: It’s Possible Cause and Impacts”, detailing the actual causes of the mining disaster and its collateral issues.

“In order to acquire maximum profit in the shortest period possible, mining in Gyama has been pursued aggressively. Whole swaths of land have been excavated in several sites and in some cases the whole face of a mountain has been ripped in the process of exploration, water diversion, mining and road construction. It was just a matter of time that such a large scale and aggressive expansion out of the mine was going to cause a big disaster,” the report reads. [View full report]

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