Outrage mounts in Papua New Guinea over current mining
Published by MAC on 2004-09-21
Outrage mounts in Papua New Guinea over current mining - as a "new era" is declared
We recently posted on this site an article heralding a "new era" for mining in Papua New Guinea (PNG). Within days, however, Oxfam-CAA in Australia published a damning report on the PNG operations of South African company, DRD, and local moves were made to bring the company to account for a notorious cyanide spill, four years ago.
No sooner was this news announced than Placer Dome - the Canadian company responsible for the huge Misima Gold mine - was also under attack for a cyanide spill earlier this year, its continued use of the discredited practice of submarine tailings disposal (STD) and its derisory attitude to numerous grievances voiced by local land owners.
A false second dawn for mining in PNG? Make up your own mind
Meet on cyanide compensation claim set
By Geraldina Warre, The National (Papua New Guinea)
21 September 2004
MICROBAL Ltd, an environmental organisation, is hosting a conference to discuss the impact of a sodium cyanide spill in Goilala, Central province four years ago.
Microbal manager David Mol said the conference is a “result of the neglected impact and damage of the spillage four years ago”.
He said, “The sodium-cyanide spill occurred in 2000 … it has been four years now and the company (Tolukuma Gold Mine) has done nothing to compensate the people who have been affected by this issue.”
Mr Mol claimed that TGM has only done about two months of the residual detoxination of the sodium-cyanide spillage after the incident on March 16, 2000.
The incident occurred on Tuesday, the 16th of March, 2000 during a routine delivery flight from Veimauri Base to the Tolukuma Mine Site about 50 kilometers North West of Veimauri. Veimauri is about 70 kilometres North West of Port Moresby.
In a statement, Mr Mol said a Hevi Lift Helicopter was hauling two tonnes of sodium cyanide rigged on a pallet suspended under it when a container holding a tonne of the chemical fell off about 20kms south of the mine site at about 3,500 feet above sea level.
He said upon impact with the water, the container burst open, setting off the chemical to leak out. Mr Mol said this has resulted “in physical damages, injuries, social inconvenience caused to the inhabitants of the affected villages”.
He added that eight deaths occurred within days after the spill.
Reports from TGM suggest that about 20% of the cyanide escaped upon impact. However, the TGM claim has never been verified.
Mr Mol said the conference is aimed at getting the people involved in the incident in 2000 to make a decision on the course of action to be taken to compensate the damage.
“I want the appropriate authorities who can answer questions upfront and not say they don’t have the authority to comment or decide.”
Microbal has already sent an advice to the chairman of Orica Australia, Durban Rooderpoort Deep and the HSBC Holdings Ltd for them to attend.
Microbal has also engaged the services of Naru Lawyers to look into the legal side of the issue.
Tolukuma mine accused of contamination
Press Release
CENTRAL Province based Tolukuma Gold Mine has been accused of dumping its mine tailings into the Auga River and causing extensive damage downstream.
The company has also been accused of increased "environmental devastation" and ongoing health threats to local communities.
Australia-based non-governmental organisation Oxfam Community Aid Abroad's Mining Ombudsman 2004 report accused parent company Durban Roodepoort Deep (DRD) of lacking accountability and corporate social responsibility by dropping cyanide and then engaging in further exploration without community consent.
DRD yesterday dismissed the allegations made by Oxfam about management practices at their Tolukuma mine
(To read the full report click here)
Divisional director (Australasia) Richard Johnson said DRD was proud of Tolukuma, its community relationship and its operational achievements.
"Oxfam's allegations denigrate the hard work of many local and national Papua New Guineans working on the mine as well as the integrity of the Government's environmental and mine management policies," Mr Richardson said.
Mining Ombudsman with Oxfam Ingrid McDonald said the Tolukuma Gold Mine report was highly critical of DRD's use of the outdated riverine tailings disposal system.
"Over 160,000 tonnes of contaminated mine tailings are discharged annually into the local river system with fatal or severe consequences for local people after bathing, drinking or walking in the river," Ms McDonald said.
"Other negative impacts of the mine include reports of rising incidences of violence and sexual assault near the mine site.
"Downstream communities affected by the Tolukuma Gold Mine have received no compensation for damage done to the river and their loss of livelihoods." Mining Minister Sam Akoitai said yesterday the Government was happy with DRD operations at its Tolukuma mine.
He said he could not comment further until he had seen the Oxfam report. "We are satisfied with what is going on up there," Mr Akoitai said. "If they are coming up with new claims, we are satisfied with the Tolukuma operation.
"They (Oxfam) have to substantiate their claims if these are going to be new claims." Attempts to get comments from Department of Environment and Conservation Secretary Dr Wari Iamo have been unsuccessful. He was away at a meeting all day yesterday.
Tolukuma says 'made progress'
Postcourier (Papua New Guinea)
23 September 2004
Despite criticism from environment watch groups, Durban Roodepoort Deep (DRD) yesterday released its social responsibility report for its fully owned Tolukuma Gold Mine.
The report was compiled by academic Dr John Lake who has held senior roles in education in Australia and Papua New Guinea.
Presenting the report on Monday this week to Papua New Guinea Mining Minister Sam Akoitai, DRD Group divisional director (Australasia) Richard Johnson said it would improve the general understanding of the mine's activities and DRD's commitment to sustainability.
"Tolukuma has made tremendous progress over the past two years. Once a loss-making mine suffering from low staff morale and poor community relationships, Tolukuma now delivers consistent production and has vastly improved levels of communication with all of the parties interested in or affected by its operations," he said.
"We recognise that, in our work in the field of social responsibility, preparation of the mine for closure and for a sustainable future for local landowners and communities are important bases.
"Maintaining close and active relationships with stakeholders through effective communication is critical to the process. We hope that this report proves to be an effective communications medium and evidence of our clear intention to remain a committed and responsible member of the PNG mining community."
Environmental Disaster at Misima Mines Continues…. Misima Landowners in Port Moresby to Seek Justice
SIUNG LANDOWNERS ASSOCIATION and Misima Towho Siung Association Media Release
23rd September 2004
Landowners from Misma mine have traveled to the nation’s capital in Port Moresby to meet with the Prime Minister, Michael Somare, and seek confirmation of a strong and just response from the government for the recent cyanide spill that lead to fish kills on the island, and to other environmental and social issues that threaten their livelihood on the small island. The destructive legacy of the mine is so great, and Placer Dome’s response to these issues so inadequate that the governor of Milne Bay Province refused to sign off on the mine closure plan earlier this year.
Landowners believe the cyanide spill reflects a careless neglect for their interests that characterizes the company’s activities over the life of the mine, and now extends into mine closure. While rivers, gardens and oceans are already devastated by the mine, and coral fringing reefs off the island are completely destroyed, the company plans to walk away.
Landowner’s own perceptions have shown that the spill has had a much greater impact on the marine environment than has been reported by the company. The company has only reported the death of 35 fish but dead fish continue to wash up on and around the island. A whale was also reported washed up on shore near the tailings outfall after the event.
“We have ongoing reports coming in since the spill on the 7th of August about fish that have been killed. Men and women use saltwater for many things, for cooking and washing. The currents travel to the outer islands and we have had reports from the outer islands of turtles, shark and yellow fin tuna and flying fish and sardines died. People are scared of handling the dead fish for fear of poisoning, and do not know what is OK. People are scared of using the salt water and the marine life, and they are very scared of what the mine has done to our oceans through ocean dumping (submarine tailings disposal.). The company is telling us everything is OK, but still people do not feel they can trust the company and are fearful to fish or swim in the ocean, least they are poisoned. We don’t have the information to check what the company is telling us,” stated Stanley Niga, chairman of the MTSA landowner association.
When Misima Mines held a meeting at Gibobo village, near the place of the spill, the people, who have lost trust in the mine, said they would not believe that their ocean was ok until an independent investigation would take place.
‘The mining companies involved have shown us time and again in Wau, Bulolo, Bougainville, Ok Tedi, Tolokuma, Pogera and Misima that we cannot trust them to look after our interests and that thye are only here to reap our resources. We don’t know what these tailings and rocks they dump offshore and now this latest spill in our oceans will do, but we need an independent investigation to get to the truth and extent of the matter. The company and the government do not tell us all that we need to know to make sure our interests are protected,” stated Stanley Nigu, Chairman of the MTSA, the landowner group that signed the 1990 MOA.
The landowners have also written through their lawyers to the Minister for Environment and Conservation of the PNG Government to have the company charged with negligence. The delegation in Port Moresby today is seeking to follow up with the government and gain assurances that they will take appropriate actions in the interests of the people. Placer Dome through Misima Ltd operated a gold project on landowner’s customary land until 2004.
Brief Info on the Cyanide Situation Now
The company has given small numbers of people in the impacted communities an amount totaling 22, 856 K, the equivalent of less than 10,000 Australian dollars as total compensation for the incident. The amount, when divided amongst the people represent 1.92K or less than one Australian dollar per person impacted by the spill. The population of Misima Island relies significantly on the marine resources for livelihood and as a food source, and people are now scared to fish. Damages were recorded to communities at Misima and other islands.
‘This offering of compensation is worse than a joke and insults the dignity of the people of Misima Island.” Stated Camillus Narokobi, of Narokobi Lawyers, who represents the landowners. “In 1990 the people were given hope and promises and have lived with the consequential problems created by this mine while keeping their side of the understanding by not interfering with the mine’s activities. The company has failed to uphold its side of the agreement.”
There was unanimous support at a public meeting held on the island a couple of weeks after the spill for an independent investigation to be carried out regarding the environmental damages and likely impacts caused by the mine, including this most recent incident. People attending the meeting expressed widespread lack of confident over the company and government management of the environmental impacts of the mine as agreed in the 1990 Agreements.
The landowners have not yet been provided with all the relevant information on the incident and the company representatives left a meeting where the landowners outline their requests and concerns before the meeting had finished and without resolving any of their concerns including the appropriateness of the compensation levels. Landowners believe dead marine life has been confiscated by the company officials and burnt or destroyed to eliminate independent studies.
The company is in the process of decommissioning the mine and there are wide spread concerns over the legacy of environmental damage that they will leave to the vulnerable small island population. Sentiments amongst the population are that they have been taken advantage of by the company and to some extent the Mining Department of PNG Government and that their interests and rights under the 1990 MOA’s have not been honoured.
The mining company has been advised to stop work (deconstruction of the mill) until further notice from the Department of Environment and Conservation.
In light of these issues, landowners call upon the company to:
a) Liase with the people’s elected representative in the local level government and landowner’s associations (the landowners) who have signed the original agreements for the mine to proceed rather than exclusively with landowner groups set up by their own company employees.
b) Provide these landowners representatives with copies of all environmental studies undertaken that evaluate the environmental impact of the mine on their rivers and oceans
c) Commit to proper compensation for the damages that have occurred now and are likely to occur in the future
d) Open negotiations with these landowner representatives to ensure that all rights, benefits and responsibilities relating to the original 1990 Memorandum of Agreement and development plan are fulfilled, including its commitment to ‘leave nothing damaged’ and that any derivations from these agreements are consented to by the communities
e) Fund an independent transparent audit and review by consultants agreed upon by the aforementioned landowner representatives and commit to addressing identified flaws and gaps in risk management of mine closure program.
Landowners humbly call upon National Government, and specifically the Department of Environment and Conservation and Department of Mining to:
a) Support their demands against the company for just compensation and fulfillment of the original agreements.
b) Ensure work at the mine does not resume until
· their report of the investigations of the incident has been made available and reviewed to the satisfaction of the landowners and community representatives,
· until measures to the satisfaction of the landowner and community representatives have been addressed as to prevention of any further chemical discharges into the environment
· the company has committed to fund an independent review of the mine closure plan and ongoing environmental impacts of the mine
c) Release to the landowners all reports they have regarding the environmental impacts of the mine and particularly the dumping of tailings into the precious oceans
d) Commit to an independent inquiry by persons agreed upon by the government and landowners to report on the events leading up to the cyanide spill.
e) Charge Misima Mines Ltd for recklessness and negligence in contaminating our environment, order them to pay just and fair compensation to the landowners and fine the company pursuant to the maximum amount under the laws of Papua New Guinea.
This money is due as a result of impacts suffered by the people of Misima, and this money must be used to ensure that environmental issues with the mine are addressed and that the landowner’s interests have been protected once the mine has closed, so finally the landowners ask the government to:
f) Allocate any money from the fine towards consultants chosen by the landowners engaged in an independent review and follow up of the environmental impacts of then mine on their rivers and oceans and the acceptability of the overall mine closure plan.
Media Enquires
Stanley Niga, Chairman of MSTA and Ebia Kasaiwabi, spokesperson for Siung Association tel (675) 684 2424, or (675) 643 7113 and Joe Broome, President Louisiade Rural Local Level Government (675) 643 7111
Siung Landowners Association represents the principal landowners whose land was utilized by the Misima mine MTSA represents landowners and villages within the Special Mine Lease area of the Misima Mine
Trouble in Paradise - Placer Dome leaves a legacy of destruction on tiny Pacific Island
INTERNATIONAL CONDEMNATION OF PLACER’S FAÇADE OF SUSTAINABILITY
23rd September 2004
Indigenous landowners impacted by Misima Mine on the vulnerable small Pacific island of Misima in Papua New Guinea have sent out a plea internationally to their government and the mining company Placer Dome to rectify its previous neglect and disregard for the interests of communities impacted by the mine. Representatives of the landowners have travelled all the way to the nation’s capital to meet with their Prime Minister and raise the concerns of their people.
The Mineral Policy Institute (Australia), Mining Watch Canada and the NGO Environmental Watch Group (PNG) condemn Placer’s conduct.
Placer Dome is seeking to cut and run from the mine, despite the fact that the Governor of the Province where the mine is located has refused to sign off on the mine closure plan due to concern over unresolved social, environmental and economic issues.
The plan was also completed without properly consulting representative landowner associations who were party to the original mine agreement and local level government officials from consultation processes. The company was instrumental in setting up an association run by its own employee to represent the landowners, and local communities are highly critical of the capacity of a company employee to represent their interests to the company.
A cyanide spill into the ocean of the 7th of August, in admissions by the company, resulted in fish kills off the islands coast, redirected public attention to the remote island.
The results of initial investigations conducted by the Mineral Policy Institute suggest it is likely the incident may have been directly related to fast tracking the deconstruction of tailings facilities prior to decommissioning the cyanide tanks, and recommended a detailed independent investigation into the incident.
Placer’s subsidiary offered the equivalent of less than one Australian dollar per person to persons impacted by the spill, while weeks later, communities around Misima and the surrounding islands have continued to find dead fish, including reports of a whale floating onto the shore, and are still too frightened to fish or swim in the oceans.
“These companies do not tell us the truth. We read what happens in other places, and the mining company deny all the pollution and problems until the people do independent tests. Are these dead fish from the cyanide or from their other dumping of wastes into the oceans. We do not know, but we know that we can not always trust what the company says,” stated Stanley Niga, chairman of landowner’s representative group, Misima Towo Siung Association.
The mine uses the controversial practice of ocean dumping (submarine tailings disposal) utilised by a Newmont mine in Buyat Bay in Indonesia that was recently shut down for polluting the oceans and poisoning local communities. This practice is not permitted in countries such as Australia or Canada.
Catherine Coumans of MiningWatch Canada says “Once again Placer Dome is a source of shame in Canada for the failure to protect environments and communities abroad. We have long denounced Placer Dome’s waste disposal in the sea at Misima, this practice is illegal in Canada. Placer’s other waste disposal method in PNG, into a river at Porgera, is also illegal in Canada.”
Landowners have issued a statement and set of demands to the company and their national government to address their concerns that includes release of all reports on this incident and a commitment to an independent review of the mine closure plans and ongoing environment impacts. These are available on the internet at www.mpi.org.au
“Placer Dome has exploited the good will and peaceful nature of the people of Misima, and their façade of corporate responsibility must crumble in the face of the atrocious legacy they have dumped upon the people of Misima.” stated Techa Beaumont of the Mineral Policy Institute.
“The men and women of Misima and other mine sites are dependent upon their lands for their future. Mining companies need to respect their rights, including their customary relationships to their land, and their future reliance upon that land for their survival.” stated Stewart Serawe of the NGO Environmental Watch Group, PNG.
Further Information/ Enquires:
Techa Beaumont, Mineral Policy Institute: in PNG: 675- 686-8802 In Australia tel: 61-9557 9019
Catherine Coumans, Mining Watch Canada, in Canada: 613-569-3439 or 613-256-8331
Landowners: Stanley Niga, Chairman of MTSA, landowner association representing landowners and villages in the mine lease area of Misima Mines 675- 684 2424, or 675 643 7113 and Joe Broome, President Louisiade Local Level Government 675 643 7111
Additional Background (NGO Environmental Watch Group PNG)
Misima Mine operates at one of the central mountain of the small island, with mine pits and waste dumps located at the headway of creeks and rivers that most of the islands populations rely on for freshwater resources. The mine has disturbed an estimated 1/3 of the island, with creeks and rivers along the south side of the island devastated by sediments and pollutants from the mine.
One river dried up completely after 9 bores were used to pump water to the mine for its use. Communities remain uncompensated for the loss and destruction of the river, and are now finding it difficult to meet all their freshwater needs. “This poses an enormous threat for the communities on the tiny island, and for those on outlying islands who also rely on trading with Misima for their food and other needs. These small islands are extremely vulnerable environments, and the subsistence livelihood of communities is delicately balanced. The mine’s impacts on their ability get fresh water, grow gardens and utilise the fishery resources of their rivers and oceans is devastating, and these people have no where else to go, ” stated Techa Beaumont, who returned from a site inspection to the island.
Landowners expressed anger and frustration at the company’s pollution of their oceans and the practise that has completely destroyed huge sections of the fringing coral reef around the island.
“The system of tailings disposal utilised on the island –submarine tailings disposal- this system they used was not properly explained to the people… If this was properly explained to us, the people would have questioned it. They should have given us information about experiences in the places in the world where it is practised, and we would have questioned and we would have declined that practice. Our island is so small and our oceans too precious. We have no where when our resources are destroyed,” stated Ebia Kasawabi for the Siung Landowner Association, who represents the landowners whose resource have been most seriously impacted by the mine. He went on to say:
“The system that they use for disposal is unacceptable, we were led to believe that nothing bad would happen, but bad things happened. With this recent cyanide spill, there was an admission from the company. But in the long run it will cost the people, it costs us psychologically. We had a meeting in Gaibobo village, and the company advised those who don’t believe it is safe, you will stop yourselves from fishing, and those who do believe it is safe, you keep fishing. That is not an acceptable response. We need real proof that it is not harmful.
In the minds of the people, people are frightened. There is no guarantee that nothing will happen after the closure and relinquishment of the lease, after the company leaves that more bad effects won’t happen. If something happens we face long term affects, there is no agreement that the company and government will help us.”
“Placer Dome has stated in the mine closure plan that this is the first mine they will close in a developing country, and that it is a learning process. Yet Placer continues to refuse the one lesson that is necessary to sustain their claims to corporate responsibility. Rather than marginalising landowners groups, they must respect and learn from them, engaging them as equal partners in the closure process to ensure that local communities are not left with a legacy of destruction and failed projects. ” stated Techa Beaumont.