Mining company pays up in PNG

Forest and Bird, Issue 281, 1 August 1996, Page 11

Mining company pays up in PNG

WIDESPREAD environmental damage arising from mining operations at the Ok Tedi gold and copper mine in Papua New Guinea, has resulted in a massive legal payout by the giant Australian miner, BHP. In 1984, dams erected to hold the 60 million tonnes of slurry that the mine produces every year were burst by unusually strong rains and seismic activity. Since then, the slurry, which is heavily contaminated with copper and cadmium, has flowed directly into the Ok Tedi and Fly Rivers, which empty into the Gulf of Papua. The

irretrievably damaged by the mining, and that the settlement, while a victory for local landowners, is unlikely to do much for the local environment. "The mine has been operating for 12 years with no waste management plan in place," says Helen Rosenbaum of the Australian Conservation Foundation. "Implementing one now won't save the river system". Hopefully, however, the size of the settlement will discourage transnational resource companies from considering only the minimal environmental standards that exist in developing nations.