Glaciers and mining
Kaliia Moldogazieva,
Human Development Center “Tree of Life” ( Kyrgyzstan) ,
“Glaciers and Sustainability in the Anthropocene”, Rio-de Janeiro, Brazil,
19 June 2012
General information on glaciers in Kyrgyzstan
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4.2% of the country’s total area, 6582
registered glaciers, 8047.8 sq. km
Glaciers and seasonal snow are unique
reservoirs of fresh water: 30-35 per cent
of Kyrgyz mountain rivers nourishment
Almost 90 percent of the population of
Central Asia depend on the water
precipitated in the mountains, stored in
glaciers and snow cover
Water reserve in glaciers volume: approx.
650bln cubic metres
Should all the Kyrgyz glaciers melt, every
square meter of the country's territory
will be covered with 1.26m of water
Global climate change severe impact: in
20 years the Kyrgyz glaciers might
decrease by 35%
Kumtor Gold mine – its impact on glaciers
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- Conditions: fragile permafrost, vicinity of
glaciers that feed fresh waters into the
transboundary Naryn River
- The Kumtor open pit gold mine is located in
a remote area of the Tian-Shan mountain
range in Kyrgyzstan at an altitude of 4000
metres, next to the Sarychat-Ertash reserve
and not far from the Issyk-Kul lake, an
important regional tourist attraction.
- owned by Canadian mining company
Centerra Gold Inc., the Kyrgyz Republic owns
33 per cent of Centerra Gold Inc.
- the largest gold deposit project managed
by a Western company in Central Asia
- produced 17,66 tons of gold in 2010, 18,1 in
2011, plans to further expand operations
- generates appr. 10 per cent of Kyrgyzstan's
GDP, but also significant environmental and
social threats
Kumtor glaciers
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- located in the north-west part of
the mountain and glacier system
Ak-Shyirak
- adjacent are several
morphologically diverse and rather
big glaciers, and more than a dozen
of small ones
- The Naryn river originates from
the largest valley-type glacier of
Tian-Shan – Petrov glacier (ca. 70
km2)
- other glaciers of remarkable size:
Lysyi (5.5 km2), Davydov (11.6 km2),
Sarytor (3,3 km2), Bordoo East (5,9
km2) Bordoo West (7.9 km2)
Anthropogenic influence on glacier retreat,
Kumtor mine
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Human intervention is present in almost
every landscape object adjacent to the
Kumtor gold mine – typical for mining
industry
Mountain slopes are removed, parts of
glaciers were mined to access the ore and
waste rock was stored on the glaciers
Local pollution of glaciers, glacial meltwater
occurs
the development of natural environment
objects is disturbed
several decades will be needed to restore the
disturbed natural objects, their natural
evolution and development, even after
taking land reclamation measures.
Image: waste rock and dust on the Davydov
Glacier (picture by K. Moldogaziev, 2005)
Glaciers in the valley with dust
Anthropogenic influence - Kumtor mine
- Currently the ice is being removed from the
middle part of the Davydov glacier as to mine
development plan
- New artificial glacier on Davydov glacier tongue is
being formed, together with waste rock - manmade rock glacier
- Ice removal from the southeast section (SW
area) will lead to: 1) the glacier degradation and
losing its single mass - broken down into two or
three parts; 2) the upper part of the glacier
practically loses its support in the form of the
Davydov glacier’s tongue; 3) accelerated
movement of both upper part and the tongue,
which significantly influences the stability of
already independent and separate parts of the
formerly one-piece glacier; 4) contamination of
glacier ice that disrupts ablation and consequently
the glacier runoff - geochemical composition of the
glacier and glacier meltwater suffers
(R. Usubalieyev, 2012, Report of the interdepartmental
commission)
Davydov glacier recent creep and new concession area plans
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In February 2012, the movement of the Davydov glacier’s speed rapidly
accelerated –up to 2 m/day with large cracks and gaps formed
The southern pit wall was completely blocked - the glacier and its arm merged
together above the pit wall, urgent unloading of ice masses that creeped into
the pit were needed, the high-gold-grade site is dangerous and currently
blocked for exploration
Sergei Yerokhin, Hydrogeologist: ‘the glacier may move abruptly and fill the
entire open pit. A research is required if glacier is going to move rapidly or it
can be removed step by step’.
The glacier volume is about 15-18 mln cubic meters. Size: 500m wide, 60 to 70
m high.
Glacier’s speed: 50 mm/hour = more than 1m/day, 30-40 cubic meters a day
goes into the pit
Company didn’t expect such drift rate in February 2012!
Since 2009, the company was removing ice constantly
At the same time Kumtor has licenses for a new concession area where new
glaciers are located: Sary-Tor, Muzdoo-Su, Bordoo 1 and Bordoo 2, as well as
the Sarychat-Ertash natural reserve.
InterAgency Government Commission on evaluation of
environmental and industrial safety at Kumtor (January 2012)
• Set of problems and risks at Kumtor gold mine found: - exeedance of maximum
permissible concentration (MPC) and maximum permissible discharge (MPD) of
a number of chemical substances in water, instability of pit walls according to
the company’s report 2010, risk of outbreak of the Petrov lake natural moraine
dam, transfer of land of the specially protected natural areas to the new
concession area of Kumtor in violation of the effective laws
Recommendation:
-to temporarily suspend operations of
the Kumtor mine for further examination
and addressing all the violations and
problems identified;
-the transfer of the new concession
area for mine exploitation is preliminary
and inexpedient due to availability of
unexhausted underground ore resources
that could be excavated by underground
method and potential increase of negative
impact of production activity in the new
concession area where glaciers Sary-Tor,
Muzdoo-Su, and buffer zone of the
Sarychat-Ertash natural reserve are
located.
Recommendations for preservation of Kyrgyz glaciers
1. Kyrgyzstan joining international initiatives aimed at preservation of mountain
glaciers, natural ecosystems around mountain rivers.
2. Establishment of “no go zone” on specially protected natural areas to preserve
mountain glaciers and (regional) watersheads;
3. To investigate hydrogeological conditions of mountain terrains and estimate the
buried ice reserves and water storage capacity of rocks that form valleys.
4. As a consequence of glacier degradation, river floods will shift to spring months.
Underground waters will not be able to fully compensate the lack of glacier meltwater
during the driest and hottest months of year. Therefore it’s necessary to arrange
artificial retaining of snow melt and rain water within mountain valleys or within
piedmont parts of piedmont plains by building various type reservoirs. Water storage
in these reservoirs will enable us to provide farmers with necessary amount of water
in July-August.
5. Develop the construction plan of new reservoirs due to water shortage in the
valleys where glacier degradation resulted in significant reduction of river discharge.
The plan to be implemented as needed.
References
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http://www.cawater-info.net/all_about_water/?p=3548
Report of the Interdepartmental government commission on evaluation of
environmental and industrial safety at Kumtor mine. December 2011.
www/treelife.org.kg
Technical Report on the Kumtor gold project for Kyrgyz Republic. Toronto Canada
2011.
Kyrgyzstan Kumtor gold mine. http://bankwatch.org/ru/ourwork/projects/zolotonosnyi-rudnik-kumtor-kirgizstan
S.A. Yerokhin, Degree of influence of global climate changes on water resources of
Kyrgyzstan.http://www.ekois.net/wp/?p=8450
Special project to prevent the consequences of Davydov glacier melting at Kumtor
is completed by 35% - ‘Asiarudproekt’
http://www.minerjob.ru/viewnew.php?id=2120
Prospects of ‘green economy’ in Kyrgyz Republic. May 2012. Position of Kyrgyz
Government to Rio-20. Public discussion draft.
Petrov Lake, Sept.2011
Thank you!