MISSION: Southwest Research and Information Center is a multi-cultural organization working to promote the health of people and communities, protect natural resources, ensure citizen participation, and secure environmental and social justice now and for future generations

Kamchatka Mining Exchange

Home to dozens of volcanoes and an enormous array of world-class salmon runs, the Kamchatka Peninsula ranks as one of the richest places on Earth for natural beauty and biological diversity. The establishment of a World Heritage Site for the “Volcanoes of Kamchatka” in five distinct locations around the peninsula recognizes both the spectacular natural beauty and the unique indigenous communities of the area that survived the Czarist and Soviet regimes.

Kamchatka was spared the devastation of Soviet-era style mining that scars Siberia from the Ural Mountains in the west, to Magadan in the east. The economy of the California-size peninsula has focused on two pillars: military installations (including a large nuclear submarine base), and natural resource-based activities (timber extraction, salmon and salmon roe harvesting, and an abundant marine fishery). For the past decade, the regional administration has encouraged mining and oil and gas development to boost the region’s economy. Large placer mines for gold and platinum are currently operating next to salmon-rich streams in the northern part of the Peninsula, a region recently consolidated into the administration of Kamchatka Krai (administration region). The first hardrock mine in the region is the Aginskoe gold mine located along a tributary of the Icha River. The Icha River is home to a string of fish camps used by the indigenous people of the region for harvesting subsistence foods. It forms the southern boundary of the Bystrinsky Nature Park – part of the Volcanoes of Kamchatka World Heritage Site.

Building the capacity of civil society organizations to address their concern for the impact of current and future mining in the region on water and habitat was the motivation for the an international exchange in October 2007 in Kamchatka. Coordinated by Pacific Environment (PE) and Southwest Research and Information Center (SRIC), the exchange provided the opportunity for U.S. mining experts to work with representatives of the Kamchatka staff of the Federal Ministry of Natural Resources, mining company representatives, non-governmental organizations, and indigenous community representatives on concerns related to current and proposed mines in the region.

The U.S. delegation included mining engineer Jim Kuipers, geologist Rick Humphreys of the California Water Agency, and SRIC’s Research Director Paul Robinson. Pacific Environment’s Kamchatka Program Director Sibyl Diver coordinated the two-week exchange in cooperation with the Tatiana Mikhailova, Director of the Kamchatka League of Independent Experts (KLIE). By including long-time Russian partners Olga Moskvina of the Magadan Center for the Environment and Lena Chernobrovkina of the Buryat Regional Organization on Baikal, the exchange provided the opportunity for concerned citizens in Kamchatka to meet civil society leaders from other regions in the Russian Far East where Soviet-era mining left a trail of water quality degradation and unreclaimed mines.

The two-day conference convened in the Kamchatka Krai Administration Building in Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky. This first-of-its-kind event in the region was hosted by the Kamchatka People’s Council of Deputies, the Committee on Ecology and Resource Management of Kamchatsky Krai, the Rosprirodnadzor Division of Kamchatsky Krai and Koryaksky Autonomous Okrug, the Division for Minerals Management for Kamchatsky Krai, and the Kamchatka Oblast Council of the All-Russia Society for Nature Protection. At the conference, Rick Humpreys provided an overview of California’s comprehensive regulatory system for mining activities. Jim Kuipers made two presentations, one addressing the difficulty of predicting water pollution from mine sites, and a second summarizing best practices for identifying and guaranteeing the availability of mine reclamation funds. Paul Robinson’s first presentation reviewed New Mexico’s framework for developing environmental baseline data, inspecting mine operations, and monitoring environmental performance, while the second described acid drainage problems at the Kholodninskoye lead-zinc deposit in the Central Economic Zone. Acid drainage from two open adits (mine tunnels) at Kholodninskoye was characterized in reports from Robinson’s “Mining and the Environment Dialogue” to Russia and Mongolia in August 2007 (see Voices Winter 2007, Vol. 8, No. 4). Pacific Environment translated all the presentations into Russian to insure that conference participants had direct access to the developed materials.

During the conference, the delegation met with leaders of the several indigenous communities whose traditional territories were located near the Aginskoe mine in the Bystrinsky rayon in the central part of the peninsula. The delegation and its Russian hosts were invited to visit these regions, and traveled from the regional capital, Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky, north through snow-covered birch and larch forests in the central part of the peninsula to the communities of Milkovo, Anavgai and Esso. Blessed with beautiful weather through the trip, the group was able to enjoy the glow of the rising sun on the giant stratovolcanoes just north of Petropavlovsk.

In Milkovo, the group met leaders of the indigenous Kamchadal community. Kamchadal leaders from the area described their concerns about the impacts of current and proposed mining. They described their traditions associated with hunting, fishing and agriculture in the area, and expressed strong concern about the impacts of increased mining on those traditional activities.

A pre-dawn start for the group began the trip to the Bystrinsky Rayon, home to the largest indigenous communities on Kamchatka, the Esso and Anavgai, and home to the Bystrinsky Nature Park portion of the Volcanoes of Kamchatka World Heritage Site. In Anavgai, the group met the local mayor while she was at work teaching a science class at the village high school. The group took the opportunity to talk to students about potential careers as environmental scientists and engineers working on prevention or remediation of the impacts of mining in the region. Following the classroom session, the exchange group was invited to meet elders of local indigenous communities and hear those elders' concerns about the potential impacts of mining on lands of traditional use. After meeting and sharing lunch with the elders, the group was treated to a dance performance by a local youth dance troupe. The troupe included middle-school and high school age dancers whose performances invoked the spirits of salmon, reindeer, mountain grouse, and seagulls, while clothed in beautifully tanned and beaded costume made from reindeer and other animals.

The exchange group traveled beyond Anavgai to the town of Esso, administrative center of Bystrinsky Rayon and the home of the largest indigenous population in Kamchatka. Upon arrival in Esso, the exchange group met with representatives of indigenous people from the area including people from the Evenk, Even, and Itelmen cultural groups. They also met with the staff of the Bystrinsky Nature Park and members of the local Rotary Club chapter. Rotary Club members are independent business people in the community concerned about the impact of mining on both the growing tourism and recreational economy (including guided rafting, horseback riding and camping trips) and on areas of traditional use for harvesting subsistence foods.

Following the trip to Esso and Anavgai, the exchange group retraced their route back though Milkovo to Petropavlovsk. They had a final meeting at the KLIE to review the exchange, and to identify options for future work, which included:
- future exchanges to expand the depth and breadth of information presented in training seminars and to expose other Kamchatka residents to the exchange groups experience and expertise,
- working with the Kamchatka administration to convene future seminars to sustain the multi-interest communication begun during the October 2007 exchange, and
- developing strategies to engage Kamchatka regulatory agencies on issues related to inspection and monitoring of activities at existing mines.

The meetings of the exchange group with people from Petropavlovsk, Milkovo, Esso and Anavgai were very positive. The work begun during this exchange to address concerns about the impacts of mining on the water, land, and subsistence resources in Kamchatka are likely to continue and expand.