Friends of the Earth International and local communities from Peru, Ghana and Indonesia demand that US-based mining giant Newmont stop poisoning the drinking water around its mining operations...In Choropampa in Peru 400 people were hospitalized after mercury, a toxic metal and mining by-product, was spilled in the environment near a Newmont gold mine in 2000. The company did not agree to local demands for an independent health impact study. At La Apalina, the company closed an irrigation channel that is crucial for the survival of local farmers...In Indonesia, the Ministry of Environment commissioned an investigation about pollution around a Newmont mine in the Buyat Bay area in 2004...Health problems such as skin diseases, tumors and birth defects have become more and more frequent...Newmont’s operations in Ahafo [Ghana], even at the construction stages, have impacted negatively on water availability in the area.