"Gold Mine Waste Blamed for Deadly Poisoning in Cambodia", 17 May 2018

Toxic substances including chromium and cyanide used to flush gold mines were improperly handled and seeped into a river, sickening hundreds and killing more than a dozen people in two northeastern Cambodian provinces, the country's industry minister said....

Minister of Industry and Handicraft Cham Prasidh told Cambodian media that the government will take action against mining outfits responsible for allowing toxic mining chemicals to seep into the water supplies of Kratie and Mondulkiri provinces.

...The substances were found at various mining sites...and the ministry believed that they were improperly handled and that rain washed them into the river.

...Cambodia's minister of health put the total number of deaths in Kratie at 14, while local villagers and authorities say 18 people died.

...The contamination was caused by a Chinese mining company that had been drilling upstream near the water source, he told RFA's Khmer Service on Tuesday.