PAHANG DARUL BAUXITE : DAULAT TUANKU? I THINK NOT!

 DAULAT TUANKU? 
I THINK NOT!
SEKARANG PAHANG LEBIH TERKENAL SEBAGAI 

PAHANG DARUL BAUXITE!

It can be found close to the ground surface, between 0.8 to 2 meters deep and is obtained  through a destructive mining process that requires heavy digging equipment and generates tremendous dust that pollutes the surrounding air and leaves the earth surface scarred, the environment ravaged and in the process it pollutes the entire ecology system adversely and impacts upon the surrounding socio-economic structure.  

Bauxite is lethal to human lives because it contains arsenic, lead, mercury and other radioactive materials.

This destructive mining process when coupled with the current lack of enforcible health and safety standards now threatens not only marine life but also poses a clear and present danger to the health of the people of Kuantan on an industrial scale!

When there is much money to be made, then all the usual suspects - from the Sultan of Pahang, politicians and businessmen - are in cahoots to look the other way as the legal and illegal mining of Bauxite inflicts a terrible toll upon the people of Pahang.

 

NST 26 Nov 2015

 

Sultan of Pahang greatest beneficiary.

 

And all that money is made at the expense of the people of Pahang!

Given that bauxite contains arsenic, lead, mercury and other radioactive material, the current lack of enforceable health and safety standards is threatening both marine life and is posing serious health threats for the population. - See more at: http://www.themalaysianinsider.com/sideviews/article/can-malaysia-weather-the-bauxite-mining-storm-jon-connars#sthash.Qwrzpen3.dpuf

This is what bauxite mining has done to Kuantan aka KUAN-TANA MEEERAAHHHH (Guantanamera)!

bauxite contains arsenic, lead, mercury and other radioactive material, the current lack of enforceable health and safety standards is threatening both marine life and is posing serious health threats for the population - See more at: http://www.themalaysianinsider.com/sideviews/article/can-malaysia-weather-the-bauxite-mining-storm-jon-connars#sthash.Qwrzpen3.dpuf

Felda Bukit Goh - Road turning red because of Bauxite Mining

The sea near Kuantan Port is turning red!

 Bauxite residue being directly washed into Kuantan Port.

 

A member of parliament representing the port town of Kuantan – a major hub for bauxite mining and shipping – has been digging into the problem, hoping to ease the woes of those living in her now heavily polluted city.  Her name is Fuziah Salleh, and her investigations may have revealed that drinking water in nearby towns has already been compromised.

“I have surveyed the area at Bukit Sagu and Bukit Goh which showed that bauxite washing activity was taking place upstream of rivers that supply water to the treatment plants and Bukit Sagu and Bukit Goh,” Fuziah said.  “This raises concerns about the possibility of drinking water contamination for the residents of Bukit Sagu and Bukit Goh. The presence of heavy metals such as aluminum can cause health complications.”

The villages of Bukit Sagu and Bukit Goh sit atop reserves of bauxite.  Contractors have done everything they can to mine the mineral as quickly as possible, and the hasty process causes great clouds of dust containing arsenic, lead, aluminum and other toxins to spread over towns, roads and countrysides.  According to Fuziah, raw bauxite ore is apparently now being washed near rivers, allowing runoff to flow directly into the water supply.

Potentially worse than the aluminum this releases is the presence of mercury in bauxite ore.  High levels of mercury – higher than allowable levels for irrigation water – were recorded in rivers around Kuantan and surrounding villages back in August.  There’s no telling how high these concentrations are now, but the risks to human health are undoubtedly severe.  Ingestion of mercury in small amounts can cause birth defects, and intake of larger amounts over time can cause cancer, burning or itching skin, sensory impairment (vision, hearing, speech), disturbed sensation and a lack of coordination.

Fuziah has asked that the Health Department sample the water quality of rivers near Bukit Sagu and Bukit Goh.  

No action has yet been made.

 

 Esham Salam ‏@lordofkendal

The damage the bauxite mining in KUANTAN has caused is so visible that it just need an idiot to say so 

Given that bauxite contains arsenic, lead, mercury and other radioactive material, the current lack of enforceable health and safety standards is threatening both marine life and is posing serious health threats for the population.
- See more at: http://www.themalaysianinsider.com/sideviews/article/can-malaysia-weather-the-bauxite-mining-storm-jon-connars#sthash.Qwrzpen3.dpuf.

STEADYAKU47 COMMENT : TO BE CONTINUED!

Bauxite mining – a destructive process explained

To help you understand, here’s a 7-Step guide that fledging companies like Cape Alumina would need to follow to make their mining millions:

Step 1: Bulldoze large areas of tall eucalyptus forests and wildlife habitat Bauxite is the name given to the ore body for aluminium, and on Cape York Peninsula, it’s mostly found beneath beautiful, tall eucalyptus forests. So the first thing that happens in the mining process in order to access the bauxite is the complete destruction of vast areas of forests with bulldozers and giant chains. Aside from the killing of native plants, this also wipes out habitat for important wildlife such as the endangered Red Goshawk and the iconic Palm Cockatoo.
Step 2: Pile up the decimated forests and burn them If bulldozing the forests wasn’t enough, the common practice is to then burn the masses of trees in huge bonfires. In other words, forests and wildlife habitat are treated as waste to be incinerated.
Step 3: Scrape off the topsoil and dig out a huge pit in the ground Once the burnt forests are removed, the topsoil is scraped off the landscape to reveal the underlying bauxite (and stockpiled for later use in “rehabilitation”). The bauxite is then scooped up in front-end loaders and put onto bottom-dump trucks that carry off the bauxite to processing facilities. The amount of bauxite removed is generally 4 or 5 metres deep, but can go deeper beyond 10 metres sometimes. The result is a denuded landscape with a huge red pit in the ground. This affects the way water moves across the landscape and into nearby springs and streams. The exposed earth also creates problems of erosion and poor water quality.
Step 4: Use gallons of precious water to process the bauxite At the onsite processing facilities, the bauxite is crushed, screened and washed with loads of precious water. For example Rio Tinto Alcan uses about 1 100 megalitres per tonne of bauxite for its operations, most of it extracted from finite groundwater sources. The left over “fines” from this process are stored in huge open tailings dams, presenting further risks of contaminating nearby water sources, and also dust in local communities (as has occurred in the town of Weipa). Water is also sprayed on roads to reduce dust. Cape Alumina wants to extract millions of litres of brackish water direct from the Wenlock River to do this, which aside from affecting riverine ecology, would distribute salt across the landscape, further exacerbating environmental problems.
Step 5: Ship the bauxite off to polluting aluminium smelters The bauxite is then put on large ships and sent off to aluminium smelting plants. The smelting process is a major greenhouse gas emitter, consuming enormous amounts of electricity. Cape Alumina wants to build a new port in the pristine Port Musgrave area. The development would include dredging a channel, which would seriously threaten the endangered Freshwater Sawfish and Spear-tooth Shark (of which the IUCN says there are only about 250 left in the wild!).
Step 6: Token “rehabilitation” The stockpiled topsoil is then spread back across the mining pits, and planted with native trees (until recently it was done with non-natives). But with water flows dramatically changed and soil structure changed, there is no evidence at all to demonstrate the original forests can be rehabilitated. Instead, ecological studies show that the species mix of trees is different to the original forest, and therefore also the forest architecture (which is essential for wildlife habitat). Often the “rehabilitated” forest is very prone to fire damage, and of course completely lacks the old, big trees that are so important for nesting birds and some mammals.

Step 7: Walk away with your hundreds of millions in profits!
Once the forests are wiped out, the wildlife killed and their habitat destroyed, water flows across the landscape forever changes, marine environments damaged by port facilities, token rehabilitation is complete, and a raft of other environmental problems continue, the mining company walks away, having made their hundreds of millions. Cape Alumina’s mine, for instance, is only planned for 10-15 years, but the long-term scar it will leave will be enormous.
- See more at: https://www.wilderness.org.au/articles/bauxite-mining-threatens-wild-rivers#sthash.XwZwn7gV.dpuf