{"id":1134889,"date":"2019-08-27T06:53:59","date_gmt":"2019-08-27T11:53:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.mining.com\/?p=1000330"},"modified":"2019-08-27T06:53:59","modified_gmt":"2019-08-27T11:53:59","slug":"opposition-to-canadian-miners-planned-gold-mine-in-turkey-mounts","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/juniorminingnews.com\/?p=1134889","title":{"rendered":"Opposition to Canadian miner\u2019s planned gold mine in Turkey mounts"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Canada\u2019s Alamos Gold (TSX, NYSE:<br \/>\nAGI) is facing growing opposition to its Kirazli project, located in a forested<br \/>\nregion near Mount Ida, western Turkey, after complaints of massive<br \/>\ndeforestation allegedly caused by the company and its planned use of cyanide<br \/>\nflooded Turkish social media early this month.<\/p>\n<div class='d-flex justify-content-center'>\n<div id='div-gpt-ad-1561499308230-0'><script>googletag.cmd.push(function() {googletag.display('div-gpt-ad-1561499308230-0');});<\/script><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>More than 5,000 people, including opposition lawmakers<a href=\"https:\/\/www.mining.com\/alamos-gold-say-political-agenda-behind-massive-protest-against-its-turkish-project\/\"  rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" aria-label=\" (opens in a new tab)\">, staged a peaceful protest on August 6<\/a>, on news that Alamos Gold\u2019s local subsidiary, Dogu Biga Mining, had cut down 197,000 trees for the site, almost four times the number of trees&nbsp;allowed by the government.<\/p>\n<p>Both Turkish officials and the company dispute the figure, adding that the Canadian miner has paid for future reforestation of the site in advance.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-pullquote alignright\">\n<blockquote>\n<p>Recently published images obtained with the help of drones and satellites show what it is supposed to be evidence of massive deforestation around Kirazli mine site.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/figure>\n<p>The country\u2019s authorities had<br \/>\nallowed the clear-cut of roughly 45,000 trees, but reduced that number<br \/>\nconsiderably after consulting a July study. The Turkish Foundation for<br \/>\nCombating Soil Erosion (TEMA), however, recently published images obtained with<br \/>\nthe help of satellite showing what it is supposed to be evidence of massive<br \/>\ndeforestation around the mine site.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAs part of the forestry permit, we have paid about $5 million [and] a big component of that fee is to pay for reforestation,\u201d Alamos\u2019 chief executive, John McCluskey, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mining.com\/alamos-gold-say-political-agenda-behind-massive-protest-against-its-turkish-project\/\"  rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" aria-label=\" (opens in a new tab)\">said earlier this month<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>He noted that only government<br \/>\nauthorities were allowed to cut trees, not companies.<\/p>\n<p>Activists say the clear-cutting<br \/>\nthreatens the region\u2019s plant and animal species, some of which are only found<br \/>\nin Mount Ida, or the Kaz Mountains, as the area is known locally.&nbsp;They<br \/>\nalso object to the company\u2019s planned use of cyanide at the site, warning that a<br \/>\nleak would have devastating environmental impact on area and contaminate local<br \/>\nfresh water supplies.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>The company says that while cyanide will be used on site, it will only be added in the final step of the extraction process, adding that it has taken measures to ensure there would be no impact in the area.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.mining.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/kirazli-mine-protest-1.jpeg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-1000335\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.mining.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/kirazli-mine-protest-1.jpeg 900w, https:\/\/www.mining.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/kirazli-mine-protest-1-300x167.jpeg 300w, https:\/\/www.mining.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/kirazli-mine-protest-1-768x427.jpeg 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 900px) 100vw, 900px\" \/><figcaption>About 5,000 protesters from across the country gathered on August 5 on a hill near the planned mine site to express their opposition to the project. (<em>Image: <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/antigoldgreece\/status\/1159061146873323521\"  rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"> Antigold.<\/a><\/em>)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Ali Furkan O\u011fuz, a Turkish lawyer specializing in environmental cases, told Canada\u2019s <em>The Globe and Mail<\/em> paper that Turkey\u2019s system of environmental impact reports <a href=\"https:\/\/www.theglobeandmail.com\/world\/article-in-a-turkish-forest-resistance-grows-to-a-canadian-companys-gold\/\"  rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" aria-label=\" (opens in a new tab)\">was not up to global standards<\/a>. \u201cCompanies give money to consultancy agencies and ask them to prepare a report, and afterwards the government approves it,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>When built, the Kirazli gold mine<br \/>\nis expected to produce an average of 104,000 ounces at all-in sustaining costs<br \/>\nof $373 per ounce over a five-year mine life.<\/p>\n<p>In addition to the mine in Kirazli,<br \/>\nthe Toronto-based miner has two more gold and silver mining projects under<br \/>\ndevelopment in nearby Agi Dagi and Camyurt. It also runs&nbsp;operating mines<br \/>\nin Canada (Young-Davidson and Island Gold in northern Ontario), and in Mexico<br \/>\n(Mulatos and El Chanate, both in Sonora state).<\/p>\n<p>Turkey has a storied history of environmentalist protest, with green activists being a key element in the <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Gezi_Park_protests\"  rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" aria-label=\" (opens in a new tab)\">2013 protests<\/a> against the construction of Gezi Park&nbsp;that swept the country and prompted a violent security crackdown.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Recently published images obtained with the help of drones and satellites show what it is supposed to be evidence of massive deforestation around Alamos Gold&#8217;s Kirazli project.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[2648,369,4],"tags":[43],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/juniorminingnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1134889"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/juniorminingnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/juniorminingnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/juniorminingnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/juniorminingnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1134889"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/juniorminingnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1134889\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1134960,"href":"https:\/\/juniorminingnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1134889\/revisions\/1134960"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/juniorminingnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1134889"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/juniorminingnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1134889"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/juniorminingnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1134889"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}