Court Cancels Environmental Impact Assessment Report for Gold Mine in Murat Mountain

* Photo: esgundem26.com

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Main opposition Republican People's Party (CHP) Uşak MP Özkan Yalım has held a statement for the press at the Parliament and addressed the reporters regarding mineral exploration activities on Murat Mountain in Turkey's Aegean province of Kütahya.

Reminding the journalists that they took a legal action against the Environmental Impact Assessment (ÇED) Report given by the Governorship of Kütahya for a gold mine on the mountain and its vicinity in May, Yalım has indicated, "Kütahya Administrative Court has expressed the opinion that the area of Murat Mountain is not suitable for opening a gold mine."

"We have saved Murat Mountain with this ruling. Around 16 million people live in the Aegean Region. I wish that this ruling that affects the whole region will be to the benefit of our region. This ruling has confirmed that mines will not be opened in this region by any company", Yalım has added.

'Blasts will cause damage'

M. Sadık Yurtman, the Chair of Eskişehir Environmental Protection and Improvement Association, and Funda Öz Akcura, the Spokesperson for Uşak Environment Platform, previously made a statement in August and announced that the Environmental Impact Assessment (ÇED) file prepared by Anadolu Export Inc. was accepted on May 8.

Yurtman and Öz Akcura indicated, "According to the ÇED report, the method of open pit dynamite blast and gold cyanidation will be used. As the Murat Mountain is located on a first-degree seismic zone, these blasts will inevitably trigger the fault lines, which will, in turn, cause the water bodies feeding into rivers and brooks to disappear." (DB/SD)