The cheap

way out

PAPUA New Guinea’s government has taken the painful decision not to require Ok Tedi Mining Ltd to build a tailings dam to prevent pollution from mine waste into the Fly River. While this had led to political pro tests that the mud and copper residues will destroy fish life in the river and so hit local people, the government took the view that the dam (which would have cost K3BO million) would have meant the closure of the mine. With the Bougain ville copper mine still closed, the Papua New Guinea leaders decided their inter national reputation could not afford the forced shut-down of the Ok Tedi gold and copper mine. That company has KBOO million in accumulated losses and debt, and was last year hit by labour disputes and riots.

Ok Tedi will be permitted to dispose mine waste directly into the river, thus saving 4000 jobs. “It was the best deci sion any responsible government could take under the circumstances, said En vironment and Conservation Minister Jim Yer Waim. “We risked our environ ment in favour of the people,” he said.

Compensation will be given to those people who can establish they are au thentic residents on the banks of the Fly, and government estimates show this could be as many as 29,600 individuals.

The staple food is sago and fish.

The cabinet considered four options.

The first, which was accepted, was to dispose of all waste from the mine into the Fly River, with possibly serious dam age to the river eco-system, and flow-on effects to the Gulf of Papua (into which the Fly debouches) and the Torres Strait.

Option 2 (which was the second most likely choice) was to require the company to spend K3BO million to build a small tailings dam, with Option 3 a large dam for both tailings and rock at the cost of K 1.2 billion either of which would have placed impossible financial strains on the company. Option 4 was for the government to order the mine’s closure.

The government is maintaining the position that there is no proof that any pollution of the Fly River has occurred.

It is hoping the announced K 25 million in development grants which have been announced will head off local opposition.

Half the money will go directly to the local people in cash, while the other half will be held in a fund and put towards

farming projects.

But the decision has provided a ready made political issue, with so much of the

compensation claims against mining

being for the quite substantial despolia tion which is caused just as it had at

Bougainville when the mine was developed before the current high level of environmental concern.

Lands Minister Kala Swokin broke ranks with the government and apolopsed to the people of his electorate in the Western Province, claiming there had been inadequate compensation with e peop e ° t e y.

The most serious threat comes from South Fly MP Parry Zetp, who has threatened to mobilise the people to block the river to barges carrying ore from the mine. Then students in Port

Moresby demonstrated, demanding the

government change its mind on the taildam or they would block the river.

The governments position, as set out m a recent press statement, is that the predictions of ecological damage are only that. Scientists had not yet come up with any real evidence that marine life was being damaged by the discharge from the Ok Tedi mine. Muddy water did not equal poisonous water, and that most fish would be able to tolerate the muddier water. Fish, the press release said, were more sensitive than humans to high levels of copper and other metals, and would begin to die long before humans felt any sickness so if the fish was alive, it was safe to eat.

However, the government has promised to monitor fish on a regular basis, and check on sediment build-up.

The assurances on pollution are probably more wishful thinking than reality, but the administration has a stronger case on the question of whether a dam could actually be built. The Ok Tedi area is subject to frequent landslides, where the high rainfall occurs in a mountainous landscape. The first tailings dam was swept away by a landslide, and just recently a mine worker was killed by

a similar event. The government says that it would be a major catastrophe if a tailings dam were built, then it and all the volume of tailings were swept down river. , n realit the government of Prime Minister Rabble N * maliu were , aced in an impossib|e They know that the country has received dreadful public ; over the Bougainville closure a^d the far unsuccess f u battle against the re- M s led by Francis Ona. The riots in and the tribal warfare in the High ,ands cannot helping the nation . s f m . xhe forci G f Ok Tedi Mining Ltd to into anot g e r K3BO million debt or close down would quite sibl )ed to night of cap it a l from Papua New Guinea Meanwhile, the company has announced it is to make Townsville, in Australian state of Queensland, its P nma 'y supply port outside Papua New Guinea.

In another mining development in Papua New Guinea, CRA Ltd has reached agreement with landholders in the Enga province to mine their rich alluvial deposits, scene of last year’s gold rush. CRA will share the gold proceeds on a 51-49 per cent ratio with landhol ders. The Mt Rare mine could be in production by the middle of next year ahead of Porgera and produce about K2OO million worth of gold over three years. The agreement is generous to the local people, but CRA believes that as much as KlOO million worth of gold has been carried off by prospectors, many of them not locals. The national govern ment has decided not to take a share in the venture on the grounds it would pre fer the landholders to get their full 49 per cent of the gold proceeds. □