River pollution in Yakutia: A blogger shows the large-scale consequences of gold mining.

Blogger Mikhail Mestnikov captured footage of muddy rivers in southern Yakutia. He claims the water pollution is a direct result of Chinese gold mining operations.

Dead water for 480 kilometers

The published video shows the deplorable state of local river basins. In particular, the region's major arteries have been damaged.

"This video clearly shows the scale of what's happening in southern Yakutia. This is the Aldan River basin. From the mouth of the Guvrilga, the entire Gonam River, all the way to the Uchur, was muddy. And that's 480 km! Further on, the Uchur dilutes the water a little, but it doesn't get any cleaner."

According to environmentalists, gold miners often skimp on safety and fail to install wastewater treatment facilities. As a result, companies dump all their waste directly into the rivers where they mine placer gold.

A problem of national scale

However, ecocide is not limited to Yakutia. Violations are regularly recorded in other raw material-producing regions of the country.

Last week alone, a mining company in Yakutia received fines totaling two million rubles for polluting the Orto-Sala River. Similar violations were also found on the Talanovaya River in Kuzbass and the Nikolaeva Pad River in Primorye. In Krasnoyarsk Krai, a gold mining company also paid over two million rubles for polluting the Rudnaya River.