[F]our environmental activists...opened fire on gold mining equipment owned by two foreign companies...The shooters, members of the United Movement of Mongolian Rivers and Lakes...sent a powerful message: Puraam, a Chinese firm, and Centerra Gold, a Canadian-operated company, aren’t welcome in the area...Activists became alarmed after traces of arsenic were found at the site...Outside the fenced-off mining sites, a herder says he can no longer access a well now within company’s work zone and must instead rely on the polluted rivers for drinking water...Rena Guenduez, senior mining advisor at the USAID-sponsored...Project...[said] [m]ining conflicts and confrontations have increased dramatically in Mongolia in the last two years...This year alone there have been six reported mining related confrontations and one death...Centerra Gold’s vice president for Mongolia, Doug Krahn...blamed pollution at the Gatsuurt site on previous operations...undertaken prior to the start of Centerra’s activity...He stressed that all water currently discharged from area mines is treated to meet required groundwater standards.