More than 300 locals from Phichit and Phetchabun have filed a half-a-billion-baht lawsuit against Akara Resources Plc, accusing the embattled gold mine operator of causing adverse health and environmental impacts in their communities.
Already reeling from a cabinet decision earlier this month to ban all gold mining across the country following the villagers' conflict with the company, Akara has now been drawn into a new legal battle after groups of locals from two provinces jointly lodged a class action lawsuit with the Civil Court's environment cases section yesterday.
Under the class action lawsuit, one person acts as the sole plaintiff representing others, but they will be eligible to different amounts of compensation based on the impact on them if the court eventually finds Akara guilty, said Lawyer Council of Thailand's lawyer Somchai Ameen, who is helping the residents proceed with the case.
Lawyer Phadungsak Thianphairot said each resident is demanding about 1.5 million baht on average as compensation for deterioration of their health, household expenses and loss of opportunity to make use of natural resources which they claim to be a result of the mining.
The lawsuit also asked the court to order Akara to pay 50 million baht to the environmental restoration fund.
The court has set July 8 to announce whether it will consider the case.
On March 9, the cabinet decided to stop renewing and issuing licences for gold ore exploration and gold mining by the end of this year.
Akara's concession for mineral processing expired on May 13, but Mr Somchai said it has been renewed for another seven months. He was worried the extra period may encourage the company to mine at a "higher than normal" rate, causing subsequent impacts.
The lawyers said they will petition the court for an injunction against the activity in case of such an event.
The company, a subsidiary of Australia-based Kingsgate, has so far denied its operation led to illness among locals, insisting it has strictly followed Thai mining regulations, even though blood tests, conducted by Rangsit University and the Central Institute of Forensic Science in November, 2014 found more than half of 730 villagers examined had high levels of arsenic and manganese.