TANZANIA: Community Still Worried By Mine Contamination By Jessie Boylan

IPS – Susanna Solomon is still tending her shamba, but she won’t eat the harvest from her farm when it’s ready. Solomon, 55, has been farming here near Nyangoto village, in Tanzania’s rural Tarime district for a long time. “I was farming rice before,” she said, “but I can’t anymore because of the chemicals.” Solomon’s farm was contaminated by a leak in May from Barrick Gold’s North Mara mine – just 100 metres away. In large sections, the grass has completely died, and plants and some vegetation have off-coloured stalks. The stream running from the mine site has green growth covering it; there is no sign of insects, tadpoles or frogs, and some crystallised plants stick out of the water, as if frozen or covered by salt; no other streams in the area looked like this.Read Article

Tags: Africa, energy & resources, nature of corporations, pollution & toxins