Tens of thousands of kilometers of rivers are being destroyed in Russia for the sake of DIRTY GOLD.

The scale of wildlife destruction is simply horrifying. Very many people have no idea what is happening! It is impossible to assess this from cities. Impossible to understand and grasp on a real scale. But it is happening. Right now! Wild nature is already on the edge.

Together, we have fought against mass deforestation, against the destruction of protected areas and the extermination of animals. But there are other catastrophes whose scale is staggering. Today I want to tell you how, in our native Siberia and the Far East, using openly criminal methods, TENS OF THOUSANDS OF KILOMETRES OF RIVERS are being destroyed.

Our allies from the Amur Region contacted me and wrote that they no longer have the strength to fight for their native land. Let me simply publish the letter:

“Dear Pavel Alekseevich!

Hello! We are writing to you on behalf of concerned residents of the Amur Region. We are turning to you because we no longer know who else we can turn to. We no longer have the strength to fight alone — our rivers, our lands, our region are suffocating from gold mining.

First, in 2021, companies polluted more than 5,000 kilometres of rivers here!!! Back then, all the fish in the rivers were dying, bears had nothing to eat and started coming into our villages. We thought the companies would be punished for this, but the next year they polluted almost another 7,000 kilometres of rivers and made everything even worse! And now it is all starting again, and we no longer know who to appeal to.

Pavel, we know that you have many other concerns, but we are asking you very much on behalf of the residents of the Amur Region: please help us!!!! Tell people about this catastrophe; maybe the authorities in Moscow will hear us. This cannot be allowed to continue, nature is dying right before our eyes!

Thank you very much and with great respect for your work!! Residents of the Amur Region!”

This is the disaster our allies are facing.

I conducted my own investigation into the scale of the catastrophe! I will try to be as brief as possible, but I ask everyone to read to the end — only dry, confirmed data, so that you understand the real catastrophe.

WHAT IS HAPPENING?

In an entirely extensive mode, large companies, roughly since 2020, have rushed to mine gold. As a rule, they receive a licence to search for deposits, while in reality they are simply mining gold. In this way they manage to avoid environmental assessments and restrictions. Moreover, after studying a huge number of laws, I have the firm impression that, despite formal prohibitions of the “oh no, you must not” kind, in reality they are being given the green light at the very highest level.

If we think logically, perhaps this is not even surprising. After all, we are talking about gold.

Large-scale development of deposits is taking place in Siberia and the Far East, in extremely remote corners of wild nature. Very convenient for business — no control from society, they simply go deep into the wilderness and begin extracting their dirty gold.

It must be understood that gold mining on rivers is not “small washing devices,” as it used to be among prospectors, for example during the gold rush. Modern mining means industrial monsters, entire technical lines that are brought directly into riverbeds.

I will not describe the methods of gold mining, so as not to overload the material. They use various devices there, including chains of metal buckets that simply tear apart the riverbed. It all looks horrifying, especially in the context of untouched corners of wild nature. There are many industrial devices!

But let us discuss the consequences for nature and the real scale of the catastrophe!

WHAT ARE THE RIVERS BEING POLLUTED WITH?

The most dangerous thing is that most mining artels still use MERCURY for amalgamation, that is, for extracting gold. Its traces are often found downstream from mining sites, although officially mercury was supposedly abandoned long ago! Usually, about 1.3 kg of mercury is released into ecosystems for every 1 kg of gold. This is equivalent to 2,000 broken thermometers. A single one-litre jar of mercury can kill an entire mountain valley! When it enters rivers, it can contaminate up to 56 km of water.

On top of this, industrial volumes of suspended particles enter rivers, such as clay, sand and silty sediments. The water becomes turbid and dirty; this phenomenon is called “turbidity plumes.” And along with this comes an entire deadly cocktail of toxic substances: heavy metals, petroleum products, explosive chemicals and cyanides. As rocks are washed away, other substances also enter the water, such as iron, manganese, copper, lead, zinc and so on! For example, iron and manganese colour the water a rusty shade, while copper turns it blue.

All this is discharged directly into the water so that it flows downstream, killing life throughout the entire water area. The water in the rivers becomes literally poisonous, and all these substances begin to accumulate in living organisms. Some will die now, others later.

In fact, it is terrifyingly simple and horrifying: right now in our country, with no regard for the consequences, for the sake of short-term profit, TENS OF THOUSANDS OF KILOMETRES OF RIVERS ARE BEING DESTROYED.

WHAT IS THE SCALE?

I studied satellite monitoring data from international organisations; scientists are analysing the real scale of destruction of our rivers as a result of gold mining. This can be done by tracking the long muddy plumes that extend from mining sites downstream.

Instead of a thousand words, let me give you the dry monitoring facts for the period from 2020 to 2024; the current year, 2025, is still only on the agenda.

Where I have put a dash, it means that there is no information. In general, this is connected with enormous pressure on nature defenders: much has simply been prohibited, and now no one is conducting independent research. The main pressure and prohibitions came precisely in 2025–2026.

But in my view, based on what I have managed to study, the situation has clearly only worsened. And it will continue to worsen, only now without any real control at all. 

To understand the depth of the problem, I recently wrote a separate article about this: large business in our country is literally demanding that the Sikhote-Alin Nature Reserve near Primorye be handed over to them for destruction as quickly as possible. For the sake of gold mining, they plan to “move” the boundaries. This reserve is a key refuge for the endangered tiger, and the territory is included in the UNESCO World Heritage List.

And so, brazenly, simply for profit, they want to change the boundaries of the reserve for gold mining. Read about this in a separate article: https://pavel-pashkov.com/articles/en/sikhote-alin

Look once again at the table showing the scale of river pollution. It turns out that in 2020, one set of rivers was being actively “developed,” and the length of pollution was still under 10,000 km. Then the artels moved on to the next rivers, expanding the geography of industry over wider territories, and last year they broke a “record” by polluting more than 13,500 km of rivers IN JUNE ALONE. 

These estimates are the most conservative; the real catastrophe is far greater! If more than 13,000 km of rivers were polluted in June alone, then how much was polluted in reality over the entire calendar year?

For 2023, for example, the data are given only for the Far East, and they are also incomplete. Accordingly, you can clearly imagine in your mind how much we still do not even know about the scale of the destruction of wild nature. What is the true scale of the ongoing ecocide?

Now the “industrial gold rush” has struck Siberia and the Far East. The absolute leader in pollution is the Amur region, precisely where the letter from local residents came from: for example, the Amur Region accounted for up to 45% of all pollution cases in 2021.

Protected Transbaikalia, Krasnoyarsk Krai, Kemerovo Region, the Republic of Tyva, Khabarovsk Krai, Primorye and the Jewish Autonomous Region are also under attack.

In reality, the geography of destruction of our rivers already covers much of Eastern Russia, from Altai and Kuzbass to Kamchatka. Exactly where the greatest water arteries of our country and the whole world are located, including the basins of the Amur and Yenisei rivers.

KILLING LIFE.

Turbidity plumes almost completely kill life in rivers. Suspended matter clogs the gills of fish and leads to mass die-offs. The light permeability of the water decreases — algae and other plants die, and the water becomes saturated with plant toxins! Oxygen levels drop sharply. Fish either leave or die out.

Local residents are already noting a sharp decline in populations of grayling, taimen, lenok and other valuable species. The water is literally dead!

Spawning grounds become covered with a thick layer of silt saturated with toxins and are no longer suitable for fish reproduction. Mass deaths of river invertebrates — larvae, insects, molluscs — are also recorded, which accordingly destroys the entire food chain.

In addition to poisoned waters, gold miners leave behind an altered river landscape. Riverbeds turn into canals, and banks are torn apart by machinery. Accordingly, floodplain forests, wetlands and everything that was along the river are destroyed or dry out.

I also receive letters from local residents who report the disappearance of springs and lakes near mining sites. This happens because of disruption of the hydrological regime; small tributaries dry up!

People also suffer, forced to drink water saturated with dangerous substances! In the Amur Region, there have been cases when residents had to be supplied with delivered water because local rivers were polluted by prospectors. Water in wells near rivers also becomes turbid. Drinking such water is a health risk: heavy metals, phenols and other substances cause poisoning and chronic diseases. Livestock drinking from rivers also suffer: cases of disease among cattle and reindeer have been noted in areas of gold mining.

WHAT MUST BE DONE?

Gold prices are very high, demand is great and growing rapidly! Therefore, it is easier for companies to occasionally pay fines to the state than to stop gold mining. Moreover, fines have already been built into production costs as yet another expense item, and it is completely insignificant compared with profits. And the state is in no hurry to “step on the heels” of the artels, because money from gold mining enters the treasury in the form of taxes, while jobs are created in the regions.

In short, as always: “just business, nothing personal.”

And today this catastrophe is not even noticed by people, but I will repeat: THOUSANDS OF KILOMETRES OF RIVERS ARE POLLUTED EVERY YEAR. This is simply madness!

We have now launched an international petition and the Concept with a concrete proposal to states for the creation of Territories of Full Ecological Tranquility in the world. This year we will begin developing TFET projects by region with clarified boundaries! The problem of nature destruction must be solved comprehensively, and we must seek — literally DEMAND — absolute protection for untouched and minimally disturbed areas of wild nature.

I believe that solving problems separately is already pointless. Ecosystems are on the verge of collapse. It is URGENTLY necessary to bring areas of wild nature into global Territories of Full Ecological Tranquility. And we have less and less time left!

Help us in our struggle! Sign the international petition on the TFET Concept page, study the proposal, speak about the problems and call on people to join us.

Nature is dying right before our eyes.

But nobody cares!

© PAVEL PASHKOV