EDITORIAL — Media ignore pros, exaggerate cons — Cyanide and mining

With its well-kept homes and carefully tended gardens, the little town of Waihi is as pretty as small towns come in New Zealand. It attracts tourists from all over the world, many of whom end up visiting one of the town’s most popular attractions, the Martha gold mine discovered in 1878. The 12,000 people shown around the site each year are told that the mine, producer of some six million ounces of gold and now in its second century of operation, would not have been viable without the introduction of cyanide.

In fact, the first commercial cyanidation plant in the world was established at a nearby gold mine in 1889. By 1892, there were six cyanide plants in the goldfields near Waihi, as well as others in the nearby Coromandel and Thames districts. Gold and silver recoveries doubled to between 84% and 95%, keeping the mines alive and local communities prosperous for almost a century.

But the mere mention of the word cyanide triggers comments that amaze the mine’s employees. One visitor was surprised that cows grazing nearby did not have two heads. Others expressed concerns about “toxic fumes” in the processing plant, while some wondered if the substance was radioactive. And some were openly skeptical when told that, despite the lack of environmental safeguards at the historical operations, there had been no long-term adverse environmental effects from the use of cyanide at mines in the region.

That mention of cyanide would spark a negative reaction is not entirely surprising. The substance has been associated with some of humanity’s darkest chapters, including genocide, judicial executions and mass suicides.

It has been used as a chemical warfare agent by various megalomaniacs, including Iraq’s Saddam Hussein, and as a pesticide and an exterminant of rodents, rabbits and other pests.

Cyanide’s bad reputation has made it easy for environmentalists to turn it into an issue of public concern. Citizens in Montana recently voted against the use of cyanide at mines, thereby placing several new projects in political limbo. It was a clever tactic on the part of the anti-miners, in that (a) public knowledge was minimal, and (b) the issue placed the industry in the defensive position of having to ask people to vote for cyanide.

Getting approval for higher taxes would probably be an easier proposition.

Cyanide’s bad reputation has also made it easy for the media to exaggerate the frequency and severity of cyanide spills at mine sites. The consequence is that the public tends to panic and imagine horrible long-term effects from any exposure.

Yet few realize that cyanide, a salt of hydrocyanic acid, occurs naturally throughout the world, that it has some health benefits, and that it poses no serious threat to the environment because it decays quickly and breaks down into stable, benign compounds.

World health organizations say there is no evidence that cyanide is teratogenic, mutagenic, carcinogenic or bioaccumulative in humans, animals or aquatic life. The main environmental concern is the adverse (and potentially fatal) effects of short-term exposures to levels considered acutely toxic.

Experts say at least 1,000 species of plants and micro-organisms from 90 families contain one or more of nearly 20 compounds capable of producing cyanide. About 800 species of higher plants — including flax, alfalfa, potato, cotton, almond, peach, pear, cherry, plum, corn and beans — are cyanogenic. Poisoning of livestock by sorghum and other cyanogenic plants is well-known, and apricot kernels, if eaten, will cause acute poisoning. Fungi and bacteria are known producers of cyanide, and many insects excrete it for defensive purposes. Cyanide compounds are used in surgical dressings that promote healing and reduce scarring, anti-cancer preparations, and drugs to reduce high-blood pressure.

Cyanide should not be reviled and feared because a few evil people once used it for evil purposes. Sensationalism, rather than fact, has created most of the concerns about its use in mining. And, for the record, there are no two-headed cows and no two-headed creatures of any kind at Waihi. (We checked it out ourselves.)