The Plight Of Bukit Koman Residents Unfolds Here..
There has been no coverage by the mainstream media on issue that was affecting the Bukit Koman residents. Until of late, Malaysiakini ran a report on Bukit Koman residents failure to stop the goldmine from operating. Read 'Bkt Koman residents fail to stop goldmine' here.
A fellow blogger emailed me requesting that we, bloggers, should help carry their side of the story in our blog to make more people aware of the events that have been haunting the residents and endangering their lives. But it doesn't stop there. Very soon, this potential hazard has every chance spillover into Selangor once The Pahang-Selangor Inter-State Raw Water Transfer Project is completed.
The Story Unfolds Here…
Brief Introduction
Raub is a peaceful town blessed with nature's wealth. Due to recent emergence of Cyanide, the valley has deeply submerged into a terrifying state. Raub is the place where we live and grow up. Our home and lives are confine here in this little valley. There is no reason for us to move to other places. Mining processing facilities are located just two kilometres away from residential area. Just across the street to be exact and why is the Pahang Mineral and Geoscience Department still approving the use this lethal chemical, Cyanide, to extract the gold?
Bukit Koman is a small and old village , located inside Raub county , consists of approximately four hundred families with a total of close to 3000 residents. It is situated right in the middle of the gold mining area and is indeed a 'gold plated’ village.
The mining activity started in 1898, but ceased operation in 1963. During this period, the mine was fully controlled by the Australian. In 1970, thousands of hectares of mining land had been sold and transfered to Gan Mun Wah group. After purchasing the land, the group cultivated most of the land with palm oil, reserving two plots totaling 600 hectares, for mining purposes. In the 1980’s, the group rented out the reserved mining land to Chinese miners to mine for gold through the gravity separation approach. And in the year 1990, the company took back the land and set up a company to mine the gold on their own.
Andrew Kam, the son of GMW founder, set up Peninsular Gold Limited company, which is listed in London Exchange, and wholly own Raub Australian Gold Mining Sdn. Bhd., is fully responsible for the mining activity. The other shareholders including Pahang royal Princess, Tengku Puteri Seri Lela Manja and her ex-husband Mohd Moiz. Pahang Development Board (Perbadanan Kemajuan Negeri Pahang) is also one of their partners.
