Kyrgyz govt threatens to use force at mine protest

BISHKEK, May 22 (Reuters) Kyrgyzstan threatened today to use force to disperse workers blocking the roads to a Canadian-operated gold mine in protest over illnesses and damage caused by a cyanide spill into a local river.

Output at the Kumtor mine, operated by Canadian miner Centerra Gold Inc., accounted for more than four percent of Kyrgyzstan's gross domestic product last year.

''The Kyrgyzstan Government has ordered law enforcement agencies to use strong force in case participants block roads and violate public order,'' the government said in a statement.

The protesters at Kumtor are demanding cash compensation for the damage to their health and to the environment caused by a cyanide spill by the Canadian firm into a local river in 1998.

Centerra, based in Toronto, is majority owned by Cameco Corp., the world's largest uranium producer.

The Kyrgyz Government owns 16 per cent of Kumtor. The mine is in a mountainous part of Kyrgyzstan near the Chinese border.

Impoverished Kyrgyzstan has been plagued by instability and protests since President Kurmanbek Bakiyev came to power in 2005.

Reuters GT DB2331