Shutdown 'won't harm Ok Tedi plan'

The closure of BHP Co Ltd’s Ok Tedi copper mine in Papua New Guinea would not have any impact on the outcome of the recovery of the environment, PNG’s Department of Mining director-mining Graeme Hancock said.

BHP recently admitted that it should never have become involved in the mine,

which has generated significant

environmental damage on both Ok Tedi and Fly rivers downstream from the mine.

Still, it has agreed to a request by the PNG government to delay any major operational changes to the mine until a review by the World Bank of recent scientific studies and waste options for the mine is complete.

“If we close now it would have no impact on the ultimate outcome,” Hancock told a mining conference in Sydney.

He said a closure of the mine ahead of its 10 year life would get a faster recovery but not a fuller ultimate recovery and would have an enormous cost to the community.

“The cost would be a loss of export income ... and social services to the community and this point in time based on the modelling which has been done to date, the estimated costs of the losses of revenue to the state would be in the order of US$ 1.6 billion,” he said.

The outcome of the World Bank review was expected to be complete by the middle of next year, Hancock said. The probable outcome of the review would be a new 9th Supplemental agreement that could be an act of parliament outlining the new regulatory regime governing the future operations of Ok Tedi, he said.

“What will be ultimately contained within that 9th Supple-mental agreement will ultimately depend on the outcomes of

the review currently in place,” Hancock told the conference participants.

He added that it was the PNG parliament that would make the final decision on the future of Ok Tedi.

Earlier managing director of Ok Tedi Mining Ltd, Roger Higgins, said that a draft mine closure plan, based around closure after exhaustion of the Ok Tedi mine, had

been prepared.

It included environmental, social and operational factors and would be reviewed and upgraded until eventual closure.

“It is likely that the present mine related economy will revert to primary industry based around agriculture, fisheries and

forestry,” Higgins said.

Earlier suggestions that the Ok Tedi mine could close soon were met with calls from local landowners to keep it going, to give them time to adjust to life without mine revenues. (Post Courier) ■