Gold Fields Ltd

Gold Fields Limited's Tarkwa mine in the Wassa West District of Ghana suffered a tailings dam burst on October 16, 2001, sending thousands of cubic meters of mine waste contaminated with cyanide and heavy metals into the Asuman River. The disaster killed virtually all aquatic life in the river and its tributaries — hundreds of dead fish, crabs, and birds were found on the banks and floating on the surface — and left more than 1,000 people without drinking water. Cyanide and heavy metal residues from the spill persist in the environment for decades. In December 2003, Gold Fields reached an out-of-court settlement with the village of Abekoase to establish a development fund. In January 2003, water from an abandoned underground mine at Tarkwa seeped into the Asuman River creating renewed contamination concerns. In July 2012, the Ghana Environmental Protection Agency ordered Gold Fields to halt its cyanide heap-leach gold-recovery plant at Tarkwa after the company failed to adequately treat discharged wastewater.