>From: kerry miller <ASTINGSH%KSUVM.BITNET@pucc.PRINCETON.EDU>
Subject: Industrial genocide
item from the Peltier Defense Committee August newletter (without permission):
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BLOOD OUT OF STONE
by Jackie Bissley
Zortman-Landusky Mining Inc., a subsidiary of Canadian owned Pegasus Gold
Inc. has had a temporary moratorium lifted on its construction of a new
cyanide leach pad. Opened in 1979, the mine located in the Little Rocky
Mountains, Montana, borders the Fort Belknap Indian Reservation and it is
those residents who are in the immediate threat of "cyanide genocide".
Red Thunder Inc., a native people's organization dedicated to the
preservation of traditional religious and cultural values have been at the
forefront in challenging the decision taken by the Bureau of Land
Management and the Department of State Lands. The proposed expansion of a
leach pad will result in the dumping of more than one billion gallons of
cyanide solution into an aquifer on the reservation over the next few
years. The Zortman-Landusky mine engages in a process known as "cyanide
heap leaching". In this process huge dynamite charges are planted in the
mountain, reducing the mountain to rocks, that are then transported to a
"leach pad". At the leach pad a cyanide solution is sprayed over the rocks,
allowing the gold to separate from the ore. Three to four ounces or less,
of gold is retrieved per fifty ton truck load.
Contamination of the underground and surface water supply has already
become a real concern. Cases of hair loss, cancer and still born birth are
increasing at an alarming rate. The mine is responsible for testing the
water, and they do comply once a year, in spring, when runoff is high and
the concentration of heavy metals and chemical solutions are at their most
diluted.
Red Thunder Inc. is also deeply concerned with the infringement upon their
Peoples' right to exercise freedom of religion as set forth and guaranteed
in the Bill of Rights. Noise and chemical pollution has interfered and
interrupted some of the most sacred ceremonies held in the Little Rocky
Mountains. Sun Dance and Vision Quest sites have been destroyed as a
mountain range is levelled to nothing more than a gravel pit. Sacred sweet
grass and sage used for spiritual cleansing and purification is being
ripped up from the earth along with large-scale tree removal. Texas A.I.M.
representative, Santos Hawk's Blood Suarez explains, "How much longer will
we allow the destruction of our Mother Earth? We will march at Fort Belknap
to remind Pegasus Gold Mine that the People have had enough".
The wanton and irreversible destruction of the environment and the violent
abuse of Native America rights and culture can not be silenced. Red Thunder
Inc., supported by other native and non-native organizations in the U.S.
and Canada are holding a Peace March at the Fort Belknap Indian Reservation
on August 22-25, 1991.
Contributions are needed for on-going legal fees and for the organization
of the Peace March and may be made to Red Thunder Inc., First Security Bank
of Havre, Havre, Montana 59501. Red Thunder Inc., is a registered
non-profit organization. For further information on August 22-25, 1991
events, please contact Jo Azure (406)673-3214 or Robert Gopher
(406)761-1245.
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Donations to The Leonard Peltier Defense Committee may be sent to P O
Box 583, Lawrence KS 66044.
************** |{hm ASTINGSH@KSUVM "Changes happen permanently."
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Michele Lord * Walk in Peace with
(milo@scicom.alphacdc.com) * our Mother Earth
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