Loei province in Northern Thailand is a beautiful place where there is very little tourism, except for the famous Pi Ta Khon festival. In one area gold was found, and the Tungkum Limited mining company started operating a gold mine there.
Usually we like to feature beautiful and fascinating destinations in Thailand on our website – but we love this country, and we feel it is important that information like this gets shared too. We hope it will help the people and the country.
The villagers claim that since the opening of this gold mine, the fields give less crops, the water has been poisoned with pollutants and they got diseases. Checks by the Public Ministry of Health confirmed that the water there has dangerously high levels of toxic substances (including arsenic and cyanide). The villagers can’t swim in the waters anymore, because it gives them a rash, and they can’t live their sustainable, self-sufficient lifestyle anymore because the soil and water has been poisoned.
The mining company claims that this poisoning has nothing to do with their mine, but instead blames it on the traditional lifestyle and the farming techniques of the villagers here.
Watch the documentary yourself.
Fields of Mine: Na Nong Bong, Thailand from Isaan Record on Vimeo.