Between a rock and a hard place. How local communities pay the cost of EBRD-financed gold mining ...

As the EBRD prepares to develop a new sectoral policy on mining, this collection of case studies looks at the impacts on communities of the gold mining projects the bank has financed thus far. From a cyanide spill in Kumtor, Kyrgyzstan, to defective public participation procedures in Bulgaria and severe subsidence in Shahumyan, Armenia, the case studies graphically illustrate the need for much greater scrutiny of proposed gold mining projects if the EBRD is to bring real benefits for local communities.