Takeaways from AP report on toxic spills from gold mining in Liberia
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Audio By Carbonatix
1:24 AM on Friday, January 30
By ED DAVEY and ALON AVIRAM
JIKANDOR, Liberia (AP) — An investigation by The Associated Press and The Gecko Project has found that the largest gold mining company in Liberia repeatedly spilled toxic chemicals such as cyanide in levels that environmental authorities in the West African nation said were above legal limits.
Villagers expressed frustration with seeing dead fish in the river and with the lack of response to their complaints. At the same time, anger grew over other issues they blamed on the company, Bea Mountain Mining Corporation, including homes they said were cracked by concussions from mining explosives and raids of farms by elephants displaced by the blasts.
In 2024, that anger spilled out in a protest in Gogoima and Kinjor villages. Residents asserted that police responded with beatings and tear gas and that three people were killed. Liberia National Police spokesperson Cecelia Clarke called allegations of excessive force “false and misleading.”
Here are takeaways from the investigation.
Mining accounts for more than half of Liberia’s GDP. But weak enforcement is common, with the World Bank citing limited government capacity.
Between July 2021 and December 2022, the most recent period for which figures could be obtained, Bea Mountain exported more than $576 million worth of gold from Liberia. It contributed $37.8 million to government coffers during that time.
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This story was reported in collaboration with The Gecko Project, a nonprofit newsroom reporting on environmental issues. The reporting was supported by the Pulitzer Center. AP is solely responsible for all content. Find AP’s standards for working with philanthropies, a list of supporters, and funded coverage areas at AP.org.
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A tiny fraction of the profits reach Liberian communities. Over the same 18-month period, Bea Mountain spent $2 million on environmental and social programs for local communities, or 0.35% of its export revenues.
Liberia's government holds a 5% stake in the mining operations.
Over several years, Bea Mountain operated substandard facilities while cyanide, arsenic and copper repeatedly leaked at levels above legal limits. That’s according to reports that were taken down from the site of Liberia’s Environmental Protection Agency but later retrieved, as well as interviews with government officials, experts and former company employees.
The first of four spills documented by the EPA came in the largest mine's first month of full production in 2016. The most recent documented spill was in 2023. The EPA reports also show that Bea Mountain failed to alert regulators promptly after a spill in 2022 and previously blocked government inspectors as they tried to access the company’s laboratory and view results of testing.
The incidents point to failures in corporate responsibility that “can only be described as sustained negligence,” said Mandy Olsgard, a Canadian toxicologist who reviewed the EPA reports.
As spills continued, Bea Mountain withdrew from the Cyanide Management Code, a global standard recommending pollution limits and requiring independent audits.
After one spill in 2022 that Bea Mountain didn't report within 72 hours as required, residents of a downstream village reported scooping up dead fish and thinking it was a “gift from God.” Some later reported illnesses, but no tests were carried out on them to confirm a link to the spill.
While EPA inspectors repeatedly recommended fines after the spills, only one penalty was issued by the regulator, a $99,999 fine in 2018 that was later reduced to $25,000. It was not clear why.
In a written response to questions, the EPA said the spills it documented occurred before the agency’s current leadership took office in 2024. It said it had ordered Bea Mountain to hire an EPA-certified consultant and reinforce the tailings dam — a storage site for mining waste — and that the measures were implemented. It did not say when that occurred.
Under Liberian law, the state can suspend or terminate licenses if a miner doesn’t fulfill its obligations.
In response to the investigation, the country’s recently dismissed minister of mines, Wilmot Paye, said he was “appalled by the harm being done to our country" and that the government was reviewing all concession agreements. The outspoken minister was dismissed in October.
The Bea Mountain-mined gold is sold to Swiss refiner MKS PAMP, which is in the supply chains of some of the world’s largest companies including Nvidia and Apple. The investigation could not confirm what companies ultimately used the gold.
In response to questions, MKS PAMP said it had commissioned an independent assessment of the largest mine, one of five that Bea Mountain operates in Liberia, in early 2025. It said the assessment found no basis to cut ties but identified areas for improvement related to health and safety. A follow-up visit is planned for 2026.
MKS PAMP declined to share the findings, citing confidentiality. It said it would end the relationship if Bea Mountain doesn’t improve.
Bea Mountain is controlled by Murathan Günal through Avesoro Resources. Murathan is the son of Turkish billionaire Mehmet Nazif Günal, whose business interests include the Mapa Group. Avesoro Resources and Mapa Group did not respond to requests for comment.
Bea Mountain is now exploring new gold reserves elsewhere in Liberia.
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Aviram reported from London.
