In Phichit Province, Central Thailand, the Chatree Gold Mine, operated by Akara Resources, a Thai subsidiary of Australia’s Kingsgate Consolidated Limited, has long affected nearby communities. Since operations began in 2001, local communities in Phichit and neighbouring Phetchabun Provinces have suffered from water and soil contamination, health problems, and loss of livelihoods caused by the mine’s activities.

 

Following two decades of impunity and lack of accountability and remedy, Manushya, jointly with affected villagers filed a UN Complaint on 19 July 2024 to 13 UN Special Procedures. We made public an updated version of the Complaint including additional information shared with UN experts, while excluding confidential details on 5 November 2025.

 

Following our Complaint, on 14 January 2025, 9 UN Special Procedures issued a UN Communication to Akara and Kingsgate, Thailand and Australia - the companies’ home States - as well as 14 other companies and investors connected to the mine and their home Governments.

 

In their Communication, the UN experts expressed,

 

‘deep concern about the allegations of human rights abuses related to the operations of Akara. [...] We are extremely concerned about the prolonged lack of access to effective remedy for those adversely affected by the operations of the mine. In addition, we are seriously concerned at the reported harassment, intimidation and persecution of human rights defenders who have denounced and exposed the reported abuses’.  

 

Complementing our UN Complaint and addressing allegations of defamation and misinformation made by Akara and Kingsgate in their replies of 14 March 2025 to the UN Communication, we submitted by email to the UN Working Group on Business and Human Rights on 15 September 2025 a new report entitled ‘Lies, Gold and Injustice: Exposing Corporate Lies and Defending the Truth - A Report Fact-Checking Akara and Kingsgate’s Misleading Information Before the UN’.  An official online submission (Reference No. eo7eqxa4) was made to relevant UN Special Procedures on 6 March 2026. The updated report from March 2026 includes additional information shared with UN experts, while excluding confidential details. 

 

The report exposes the falsehoods, misleading statements, and wrongful information presented by Akara and Kingsgate in an attempt to discredit victims and shield themselves from accountability and ensures truth is restored.