We visited the village of Ak-Tuz, which is quite remarkable.  The most beautiful spruce and birch forests on the mountain slopes, green lawns, as if in the Swiss Alps, and the ugly walls of an old factory, shacks with rusty roofs - such are the contrasts of the natural and man-made world here.  It is clear that before this village lived a different life, in the Soviet years, when a mining plant, a real supplier of metallurgical products, was still functioning in this place.  From there are pipes through which chemical waste departed.  Down the road there is a place where some pipes go, while others flow even lower along the road. Today, 800 people remain in Ak-Tyuz.  The former enterprise does not work, people, according to local authorities, live by cattle breeding and picking mushrooms.

Our team of geologists and ecologists went on a journey to Ak-Tyuz on April 30th, where they discovered an ancient abandoned factory. We arrived at our destination after a two-hour journey. We got out of the car and began climbing a little slope to the plant. The plant was large, and many people worked there. The individuals that worked there came from a neighboring community. People, on the other hand, departed once the plant closed. There are now just a few people that live there. We moved on after conducting some study there. We came upon an elderly gentleman who told us about the history of the area. We had a pleasant discussion with him. We also looked for a site to examine the river’s condition. Moving on to find a location to assess the river’s condition, we discovered the location of the factory’s garbage. We returned after taking some photos and checking the river conditions. By the way, the natural beauty of Kyrgyzstan delighted us.

On the morning of 30 April our team of geologists and ecologists went to a trip to Ak-Tyuz where was located an old abandoned factory. After 2 long hours we finally arrived to our point. We left the car and started to climb a small hill to reach the factory. The factory was big many people were working there.The people that worked there were living in the village nearby. However, after the factory stopped working the people left. Nowadays there are only few people left there. After having some researches there, we moved on. We saw an old man who told us some historical aspects about this place. We had a good conversation with him. Furthermore, we searched for a place to check the river condition. Moving on for searching a place to check the river condition we found the place where was located the wastes from the factory. After we took, some pics checked the river conditions and went back. By the way, we were delightful by the Kyrgyzstan nature.

This trip provided a very interesting insight to the mining activities in Ak-Tuz. We went there by Bus and spent our day at various places related to the mining activities. First, we visited the old factory, where the processing was done and learned about their wastewater disposal system and the minerals that were processed, as well as the geological surroundings. Also, we discussed some interesting facts about the village. Later we looked at the tailings and talked about the various problems that they can cause, especially in relation to the water. To complete the trip, we also measured some values in the river to check its status. Overall, the trip was a nice supplement to the class.

The trip was my first trip to the mining site which I had always wanted to visit. Learning about the history of the place and locals living and working there, ones more, reminded me of the humans need and dependency on finance. However, nothing was as mesmerizing and sad the mining site and the area itself. Although, it’s been 30 years from closure of the site, there were so many side-effects visible, especially, the tailing locations. The fact that the tailing location near the mining main building was off access until this day due to the harm it may cause, shows that mining has been practiced unsustainability up to now. Thinking of the harms that it may have caused to the locals and is still harming them is yet another side of the story. Overall, it reminded me of how important sustainable mining and rehabilitation plan is. Since, humans, due to the technological development cannot stay away from mining; they better think of more sustainable ways for mining.