Save Lake Cowal International Day of Action: Perth
Water Is More Precious than Gold! On Wednesday the 22nd of March (International Water Day) 3 ASEN (Australian Student Environment Network) student/activists visited the Canadian gold mining conmany 'Barrick Gold' head office in Perth. Feature report - MP3 6 minutes 2MB
Broadcast on 29th March 2006 Perth Indymedia Radical Radio. RTRFM 92.1 WEDS 7-9m
Save Lake Cowal International Day of Action: Perth
Water Is More Precious than Gold!
On Wednesday the 22nd of March at 4pm, 3 student/activists under the ASEN (Australian Student Environment Network) 'banner,' payed a visit to the Canadian gold mining company 'Barrick Gold' head office in Perth.
We voiced our concerns to the liaison officer regarding gold mining at Lake Cowal.
The possibility of endangering lives with the shipment of extremely toxic cyanide chemical used to leach gold from the soil during the mining process. The environmental impacts associated with cyanide leaching for gold within significant wetland ecosystems. Endangering the 172 migratory bird species, supposedly protected under international agreements, for whom Lake Cowal is home. Barrick Gold's blatant disregard for the Indigenous cultural and spiritual significance of Lake Cowal.
We took 'International Day of Action: Cyanide' flyers to decorate the office and presented the community liaison officer with a letter of concern addressed to the big boss, John Shipp.
We photographed the action, although we were not able to photograph the liaison officer. We will follow up the action with a telephone call to the office to request a meeting between ASEN WA conveners and (hopefully) John Shipp... don't want to hold my breath on that one.
For more information about Lake Cowal visit www.savelakecowal.org
If you are in Perth/WA and would like to become involved in the campaign, email littlefern@planet-save.com