Kyrgyzstan halts work at Chinese gold mine after 20 hurt in clashes over toxic spill fears

Workers and villagers threw stones at each other as 300 residents gathered to demand that operator Zhong Ji Mining stop work

Protests began after livestock grazing nearby began to die last month, though officials say tests did not show harmful substances from mine

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Kumtor, in Kyrgyzstan’s east, accounts for about 10 per cent of the country’s GDP, according to the World Bank. Photo: Reuters

Published: 5:04am, 8 Aug 2019Updated: 10:07pm, 8 Aug 2019

Operations at a Chinese-owned gold mine in the central Asian country of Kyrgyzstan have been suspended after 20 people were hurt in clashes between workers and villagers worried about toxic spills, the Kyrgyz government said on Wednesday.

The mine operator, Zhong Ji Mining, could not be immediately reached for comment about the clashes or their cause. But the interior ministry said a brawl erupted after some 300 residents of central Naryn province gathered outside the Solton Sary mine on Monday, demanding its Chinese operator halt work.

“Both sides pelted stones at each other,” the ministry said in a statement on Tuesday.

One villager and 19 workers were taken to hospital, a health ministry spokeswoman said.

The conflict has been brewing since July after Solton Sary residents blamed the Chinese company for the mass death of livestock. Photo: Radio Free Europe

Mining is crucial to the economy of the Central Asian state, with one single gold mine of Kumtor, in the east, accounting for about 10 per cent of GDP, according to the World Bank.