Stop Mining in Poboya Forest Park Area Now!!!

Stop Mining in Poboya Forest Park Area Now!!!

We, the Poboya Community, state with the steps of PT. Citra Palu Minerals (Rio Tinto owned) and the Palu municipal government to gain acceptance of gold mining in the Poboya region and surrounding areas comes a future disaster. This is based on the fact there are no mining activities anywhere that have not been destructive.

PT CPM has left 41 bore holes during three phases of exploration from 1996-1999 in the area. This company has never been open to us about issues relating to mineral potential and the impacts that will later be felt by the community. Instead, the company and the municipal government officials have been pushing for the community to accept the mining plans by feeding promises of employment and profit to the community in order to gain public acceptance of the mine.

However, we have heard testimonies from the Kelian community who have been impacted by PT KEM operations (also owned and operated by Rio Tinto), the Buyat Bay community and the Amugme community in Papua. Similar cases in other places are too numerous to mention and these areas and peoples have also been victimized by human rights violations, sexual abuse as well as environmental and ecosystem destruction. Experiences of the communities in the areas mentioned above provide evidence that, whether the impacts are covered up or brought to the surface, community rights are being alienated and the environment is being destroyed by the mining industry. This industry has also not taken into account the survival of future generations.

For the above reasons, we, the Poboya Community state that :

1. It is not true that the Poboya community has agreed with mining plans which was documented in the media on October 12, 2002. 2. We reject gold mining in our region done by PT.CPM or any other companies. 3. We demand that the Governor, Palu municipal government and all associated bodies as soon as possible issue policies to stop gold mining plans in our region, the Poboya village and the Kambuno Mountains. 4. We call on the Palu citizens and all interested parties concerned about environmental and social impacts to support our position statement about gold mining plans located only 3 kilometers from the Mutiara airport and 7 kilometers from the center of the city. 5. We oppose all efforts of the government, PT CPM and other parties to push the community to accept the gold mining plans. 6. We strongly protest the governmentís position that favours the interests of the government and PT CPM of finding profits rather than the interests of the community as actual owners of the land in the region. Turning our region into a mining region means taking away our rights to life because from this region we are able to sustain our lives. The region planned to be mined includes one of the major suppliers of drinking water for the community in the Palu Valley. If this gold mining project goes ahead, our community as well as the community living in the Palu Valley region will also face the threat of the loss of their source of drinking water. Thus, we also ask the Palu citizens to join in our protest and reject the gold mining plans.

We, hereby bring forth this position statement as an attention to all parties, mainly the government, central and local, as well as to PT. Citra Palu Minerals and/or any mining companies.

Palu, 17 June 2002 Poboya Community

Adjaliman Coordinator

For further information, please contact: Arwansyah, SPRA, Palu 62 (0) 451 456 919 Siti Maimunah, JATAM, mai@jatam.org, 62 (0)21 794 1559