The Cyanide in Turkish Politics
As far as I can see, this story is being reported nowhere outside of Turkey.
Kütahya is a village in western Turkey. Last weekend, two embankments at a three-stage dam at Eti Silver’s mining and refining facility in Kütahya collapsed. There is apparently a risk that cyanide-contaminated wastewater will leak:
Chamber of Environmental Engineers (ÇMO) Chairman Murat Taşdemir, who was also at the site of the potential disaster on Sunday said, “The consequences of this would be hard to imagine.” He said the entire dam would collapse if the last embankment also failed. “Even a very slight amount of cyanide is deadly. What we have here is now 125 times the amount lethal to humans.”
Taşdemir said they wanted officials to evacuate nearby villages as soon as possible. “Hundreds might die. There will be no farming left. This could become one of the worst environmental disasters in the world.”
I have no idea how real this risk is. I'm not an expert on the use of cyanide in silver mining. I'd be curious to hear from anyone on Ricochet who is. But this is how Erdoğan is responding:
“Necessary precautions have been taken. There is no reason to worry at the current moment. May our fellow Kütahyans, our villagers, worry not. We are monitoring the issue, and everything is under control. Do not worry at all,” Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said Tuesday while speaking at an election rally in Kütahya.
The prime minister also accused the media of exaggerating the events at the mining facility and reporting in a partisan way.
Erdoğan had better be right. If he's wrong, and if people in Kütahya start dying of cyanide poisoning, I doubt the coming election will be the pleasing rout the AKP is expecting. It would be hard to find a more potent political metaphor than cyanide.
Especially when it's not a metaphor.
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Comments :
Jan '11
Re: The Cyanide in Turkish Politics
The cyanide's used to leach the silver from low-grade ore; it can also be used for gold, copper and zinc ores. Because cyanide is a well-know poison its use has been baned in a couple of states and in a few countries but not, apparently, in Turkey.
May '10
Re: The Cyanide in Turkish Politics
Dammit, I thought this was going to be about something similar to the cyanide in Russian politics. Like, cyanide used intentionally. So much more glamorous.
But one can't help but agree that having the electorate drop dead like the guests at a Borgia dinner party isn't a formula for success at the polls.
Feb '11
Re: The Cyanide in Turkish Politics
When I first read cyanide contamination, I thought they were mining gold. Nope. Silver.
It's a common enough process though it can be extremely toxic. Cyanide (CN-) is a monovalent anion that will can combine with hydrogen ions in large reservoirs (depending on pH) and enter the atmosphere. Many bacteria and fungus are capable of degrading cyanide though the rate is slow. The half life of cyanide is on the order of years.US EPA limits on cyanide in water are 0.2 ppm (parts per million = mg/l) and 10 ppm in air.
It's useful in gold and silver mining as CN- combines with Ag+ or Au+ to form precipitates of the minerals and allows these to be collected. There are other processes for doing the same thing. The process is limited by the surface area of the granules the gold or silver are contained within. There are biological processes for doing this where the organism secretes acids that break down the granules into finer particles. With use of cyanide, the solution should be alkaline to prevent the formation of hydrogen cyanide which will escape into the atmosphere, especially when in hot Turkish summer weather.
Edited on May 12, 2011 at 7:04amRe: The Cyanide in Turkish Politics
"Necessary precautions have been taken. There is no reason to worry at the current moment. May our fellow Kütahyans, our villagers, worry not. We are monitoring the issue, and everything is under control. Do not worry at all."
Translation: nothing has been done. I have my own supply of drinking water. My family's out of town.
Re: The Cyanide in Turkish Politics
James Lileks: "Necessary precautions have been taken. There is no reason to worry at the current moment. May our fellow Kütahyans, our villagers, worry not. We are monitoring the issue, and everything is under control. Do not worry at all."
Translation: nothing has been done. I have my own supply of drinking water. My family's out of town. · May 12 at 6:35am
Sure sounds that way to me.
Aug '10
Re: The Cyanide in Turkish Politics
A lethal dose of cyanide is lethal in minutes. A whiff of hydrogen cyanide gas will give you a titanic day-long headache. I am interested that nobody around the reservoir is reporting the latter. "15 million cubic meters of cyanide" is a meaningless measure without knowing the concentration. How much of this stuff does a guy have to drink before he gets 100 mg? I do not doubt that politicians (Turkish or not) can lie about the situation; I also don't doubt that environmentalists are a species of politician, and just as apt to lie about it; but I do doubt that journalists can measure it properly. I just feel dumber after reading such an article.
Re: The Cyanide in Turkish Politics
Me too. I have no doubt that it's plausible this is being completely exaggerated by the opposition for political gain; no doubt that the Turkish press is hysterical; no doubt that environmentalists tend to be unable to think straight; and no doubt that if indeed it is a significant danger, the government's response would be to cross their fingers, stay in complete denial, say something soothing, and just hope everything works out. I can make no sense of what's really going on from the way it's being covered here.
Dec '10
Re: The Cyanide in Turkish Politics
Well, I would be getting prepared. I am getting prepared, as a company I consult with does work in Turkey. First, you now have some idea whay the Cyanide (CN) is there; it assists in leeching the silver from the porous ore, but is left over after the process. It's essentially a catalyst and a proper mine site should already be recovering it, to re-use it to leech silver from the next batch of ore.
The first rule of waste management is that waste is just that; waste. You are wasting money if you are leaving valuable (and dangerous) substances in a tailings pond, like this. That's contaminated water under the bridge.
CN is hazardous. That means something. For something to be merely toxic, you would have to consume it. A hazardous substance will reach out and get you, so you treat that with extra care and react wth extra speed.
The question I have asked myself is, "What would I be acquiring and packaging for shipment that would help me be prepared for this potential event?"
(continued)
Dec '10
Re: The Cyanide in Turkish Politics
I don't see any "silver" bullets amongst the standard Best Management Practices.
That means that the available technologies will all take a great deal of time, or will create a great and expensive pile of waste. I will review the available technologies more thoroughly, but my first skim gives me only activated carbon as something that could be moved quickly and treat large volumes. The problem (besides cost for material and transport) is that that would leave a vast pile of CN contaminated activated carbon, but that would still be better than no response, or a response that needed a long time factor.
Much more to bone up on, but that will have to wait for the wee hours, when all are fed and sleeping.
Dec '10
Re: The Cyanide in Turkish Politics
After further review, the best methods for remediating CN contamination appears to be a combination of advanced oxydation coupled with photolytic methods. However, these combinations do not offer either speed, or easy application in a rough, field environment. For qiuick response and reasonable ease of use in the field, a combination of activated carbon to capture the CN and the "flotation" process to strip the CN from the carbon looks best, to me. Were it me, I would stage every portable tank I could find, nearby, to allow me to store the contaminated water while it was bled down through the carbon. that would allow pressure to be relieved on the final embankment.
Hope they implement something like this, quickly!
Re: The Cyanide in Turkish Politics
CJRun: After further review, the best methods for remediating CN contamination appears to be a combination of advanced oxydation coupled with photolytic methods. However, these combinations do not offer either speed, or easy application in a rough, field environment. For qiuick response and reasonable ease of use in the field, a combination of activated carbon to capture the CN and the "flotation" process to strip the CN from the carbon looks best, to me. Were it me, I would stage every portable tank I could find, nearby, to allow me to store the contaminated water while it was bled down through the carbon. that would allow pressure to be relieved on the final embankment.
Hope they implement something like this, quickly! · May 13 at 4:20am
I am seeing almost nothing rational in the news about this now. Greenpeace is screaming their heads off about it and the government is saying, "Don't worry, it's nothing." There seems to be no opinion in between. I can't see how anyone in Turkey could evaluate--without hysteria--what really happened, whether the appropriate measures are being taken to deal with it, or what kind of risk this really poses.
Aug '10
Re: The Cyanide in Turkish Politics
Claire Berlinski, Ed.
CJRun: After further review...
Hope they implement something like this, quickly!
I am seeing almost nothing rational in the news about this now... I can't see how anyone in Turkey could evaluate--without hysteria--what really happened, whether the appropriate measures are being taken to deal with it, or what kind of risk this really poses.
Sounds like "toxin hysteria" in the US, only more so.
Re: The Cyanide in Turkish Politics
Midget Faded Rattlesnake
Claire Berlinski, Ed.
CJRun: After further review...
Hope they implement something like this, quickly!
I am seeing almost nothing rational in the news about this now... I can't see how anyone in Turkey could evaluate--without hysteria--what really happened, whether the appropriate measures are being taken to deal with it, or what kind of risk this really poses.
Sounds like "toxin hysteria" in the US, only more so. · May 13 at 5:05am
Except that cyanide really is a toxin, unlike most of the imaginary toxins the toxin-hysterics in America get wigged out about.