Poisonous Mine Shut Down in China’s Hunan Province

Leaves behind ill and dying people in surrounding villages

Discarded machinery parts are seen in the Juma river after gravel mining operations, Jan. 8, 2013. Many waterways in China have become heavily contaminated with toxic waste. STR/AFP/Getty Images

Asia’s largest realgar mine has been shut down, leaving behind massive arsenic contamination with ill and dying people in surrounding villages.

The 1,500 year-old mine, located in Baiyun Township, Shimen County, in China’s Hunan Province, once a source for a Chinese medicinal supplement, has gradually become a toxic wasteland during the past six decades.