The same story as in Costa Rica. Do not finance Lydian. Glencairn Gold Corporation began operating at the Bellavista site near Miramar in Costa Rica in 2003 in spite of concerns by locals, warnings by scientists of the riskiness of the area for large-scale open-pit mining, and an impending ban on open-pit mining in the country.
Canadian mining corporation Glencairn (now Central Sun Mining Inc headquartered in Toronto) established its gold mine in an unstable area with heavy rainfall and provided insufficient funds for mine closure and cleanup.
The mine had a leach pad rupture and probably contaminated waterways with cyanide and other chemicals.
Press coverage of the concerns caused Glencairn stocks to plummet 18% in one day.
As early as 2005, environmental groups
reported water pollution from Bellavista exploration and mining. The early warnings about the problems with the Bellavista project were further vindicated in 2007. In July 2007, earth movements caused by geological instability or rainfall cracked the mine's leach pad liner, probably leaking cyanide and contaminating the groundwater near the community of Miramar. The Canadian company
suspended its operations only after the accident, even though it said it had noticed earth movements in May.
To distance itself from these events, Glencairn changed its name to Central Sun Mining and focused on its mine sites in other countries. Although they have begun reclamation work at Bellavista, the paltry sum that they had posted as a reclamation bond before mining, only US$ 250,000 when needed sum was US 10 million, is no guarantee that they will finish the job properly.
See more in https://www.earthworksaction.org/voices/detail/bellavista#.Wnw4KKiWaUn