THE ENVIRONMENTAL Protection Agency (EPA) has announced that the cause of the death of fish that occurred in Newmont Ahafo Mine’s Water Storage Facility (WSF) in January this year was due to low oxygen and fish overpopulation.

“Based on the result of the analysis, it is evident that the fish kill was NOT as a result of elevated levels of sodium cyanide and or heavy metal contamination. However, it was as a result of oxygen depletion and over population of fish stock of the WSF,” an EPA media release on its investigations into the January 2012 incident, indicated.

Newmont in a press statement on Wednesday said the EPA’s findings, which have also been shared with the residents around the facility “corroborated Newmont Ghana’s internal investigations that attributed the fish deaths to low levels of oxygen at the time of the incident.

“This is a fact that has also been independently and publicly confirmed by the Water Research Institute of the Centre for Scientific and Industrial Research.”

According to the EPA’s report, most of the physical parameters analyzed were within the normal acceptable threshold for fresh water.

Randy Barnes, regional vice president, Environment and Social Responsibility is quoted to have said that: “The EPA’s announcement confirms our earlier findings that the cause of fish deaths was not due to cyanide or heavy metal contamination, as was falsely claimed by some before having any facts or testing results.”

It would be recalled that about 3,000 fishes were discovered dead in the Newmont’s WSF on January 3, 2012, which residents and other civil society groups suspected was as a result of cyanide spillage and thereby called for an independent investigation into the incident.

The Water Storage Facility is a fresh water dam built to provide supplementary fresh water for the Ahafo Mine’s Processing Plant. Newmont Ghana has already initiated steps to improve management of the WSF facility by implementing a programme to depopulate the fish stock, as recommended by the EPA. The pond was previously stocked with fish to control mosquito breeding.

The company has engaged a team of experts from the Water Research Institute, Fisheries Commission and the Hydrological Services Department of the Ministry of Works and Housing.

The team of experts was carrying out a comprehensive ecological study of the Water Storage Facility to understand the seasonal nature of the fish deaths as well as its future management.

Newmont has therefore assured the general public that it remained committed to high standards of safe environmental practices and would continue to do so to ensure the safety and well-being of the people within its host communities.