CYNIDE SPILL
Three Guyanese citizens have filed a case against the Canadian mining company Cambior in the superior court of Quebec, Canada, for the environmental damage caused by the leakage of 3.2 billion litres of cyanide-laced waste into Guyanese rivers in August l995. The spill took place when the wall of a pond containing the mining waste broke at the Onto gold mine, a joint venture between Cambior and the Colorado-based Golden Star. The waste was carried into the Omai river which joins the Essequibo. Guyana's main waterway, killing hundreds of fish and affecting thousands of people living near the river.