"Chinese companies criticized for mercury pollution in Cameroon" 5 September 2022

An environmental think tank in Cameroon has raised the alarm over the pollution of rivers in the country’s east and north. The Centre for Environment and Development (CED) says two Chinese gold mining companies are discharging toxic mercury and cyanide into the rivers every day, putting downstream communities and wildlife at risk.

“The latest tests, conducted in several waterways in June 2022, including the Djiengou River, which runs through the village of Kambélé III … in eastern Cameroon, showed traces of mercury in the surface of waters flowing down from the nearby gold washing ponds,” Marc Ansèlme Kamga, an environmental researcher at CED, told Mongabay. “The results of the water samples taken showed an average daily use of 40 liters [10.5 gallons] of mercury and cyanide per Chinese company.”

Kamga estimateed  that Mencheng Mining and Zinquo Mining each have 20 people working in washing ponds along the Djiengou River, with each worker using as much as 2 liters (half a gallon) of mercury and cyanide per day. [...]

Kamga and the CED team said they were alarmed to see the carcasses of animals in the rivers as they collected samples. “In the Batouri area, we found dead elephants in the water. We believe this is due to them consuming these polluted waters.” [...]

[Business & Human Rights Resource Centre could not invite Mencheng Mining and Zinquo Mining to respond because the two companies could not be identified.]