Mining town and people
Khaidarkan feels like a frontier town, but a quiet one. Even which explains the anxiety in the town that the kombinat
the market seems relaxed and unhurried. The few people should continue working, even if it has to find a very differ-
in the streets are friendly enough to visitors, but they do ent raison d’etre. This in turn probably helps to explain the
not bother to hide their concern about the future of the apparent indifference of many people in Khaidarkan to the
kombinat – and their own. It is in every sense a company possibility that they are living in a polluted environment.
town. Not only does the town’s economy depend on the
mercury mine – for example, irrigation water is also sup- Further afield, though, food and textile industries and
plied directly by the kombinat. The town is home to about service sectors are expanding in the Batken province,
10,000 people. In 1989 3,500 of Khaidarkan’s townspeo- where Khaidarkan is located. This should hopefully pro-
ple were directly employed by the kombinat. That number vide more opportunities for work for the people of Khaid-
had fallen to 1,500 by the mid-1990s, and to 750 in 2008. arkan. Many of the province’s young people also work
The main alternative employment is agriculture – livestock, in Kazakhstan and Russia, sending remittances home to
or growing apples, potatoes, carrots and cereals. Some support their families. But with the difficult global eco-
40% of people in Batken province still earn less than the nomic situation causing many people working abroad to
minimum subsistence level. There are not many options return to Kyrgyzstan, employment and income for the en-
for job-seekers in this district of south-western Kyrgyzstan, tire region is likely to fall even further.
Persons
in thousands
12
1989
10
2009
8
6
4
2
0
Khaidarkan Khaidarkan
residents mine workers