Gold extraction that includes the use of cyanide become increasingly dangerous threat to the Bulgarian nature and, most importantly, to the life and health of the local people. Huge projects for gold extraction using the cyanide method are prepared for variety of Bulgarian regions, including the Eastern Rodope mountains, the Sredna Gora mountain and the Western Bulgarian mountains in the area of Tran. As investors of those projects appear the most notoriously known mine companies world-wide, whose management"s background include criminal activities all around the world.
Cyanide is usually present in the environment in the form of simple or complex compounds, at an extremely low natural level of concentration, which does not represent a health hazard. Its most toxic compounds are the gaseous hydrocyanic acid (which stays in the air for a long time, its quantity reducing to half in 1-3 years) and its potash and sodium salts. In small amounts, the cyanide present in water or soil can be transformed by microorganisms in less dangerous compounds. In large quantities, cyanide destroys the microorganisms and passes unchanged in the subterranean water. Short term exposure (direct contact, by breathing, swallowing or through skin) to large quantities of cyanide affects the brain, the heart and can lead to coma or death. The problems appear not only during the use of cyanide but also in its transport and storage. Moreover, the use of cyanide generates important quantities of secondary products whose characteristics are not well known, which makes their monitoring difficult. /David M. Chambers, Center for Science in Public Participation, "Comments on the Rosia Montana Feasibility Study," Sept. 2002/
More at: "Cyanide Free Rhodopi" campaign
Journalist investigations and other documents in Bulgarian can be seen in DOCUMENTS
Some information about the companies interested in gold extraction through cyanide technology can be read in a press release by EurOmax