On April 28th, people in the Baimaksky district convened a public meeting where they voted overwhelmingly against the proposed development of open pits for gold mining. Their concern was that such development would limit the land available for agriculture, leaving them with insufficient space to cultivate crops. The details were reported by the Telegram channel "KushTau on-line."
At a popular gathering, around a thousand residents of the Baymak district voted against the development of new gold mining pits. Their opposition was directed at Altyn Yul, the company behind the proposed prospecting in the towns of Kuseyevo and Bolshebasayevo, which they believe will interfere with their farming and grazing land. These concerns were intensified by the authorities allegedly selling off land for development and thus leaving locals with even less space to work with.
In February, local activists recorded a video address to the Head of the Investigative Committee, Alexander Bastrykin, accusing another gold mining company, Vesna, of exceeding their license area and causing significant environmental damage to the villages and pastures. They claimed that the company was washing out the fertile soil, using fresh water uncontrollably, and employing barbaric methods of gold extraction.
In February 2023, the prosecutor's office conducted an investigation into Vesna's activities and found that the company had caused environmental damage worth 5.5 billion rubles ($68,772,385) between 2019 and 2022 by damaging the fertile soil layer. The head of Vesna, Marat Alguzhin, was indicted for violating environmental regulations during their work.
The head of the Altyn Yul gold mining company, Ildar Suyushev, sent two complaints to the Head of the Investigative Committee, Alexander Bastrykin, and the Head of Bashkiria, Radiy Khabirov. He accused local officials of preventing the gold mining company from carrying out their work and allowing the conflict to escalate in the Baymaksky district.
