By Sasha Ltana and Sydney Rainforest Action Group
Australia's "quiet achiever", BHP, is a major shareholder and the manager of what is probably the dirtiest mine in the world: the Ok Tedi open cut copper mine of Papua New Guinea.
The mine consortium, Ok Tedi Mining Limited (OTML) is owned by BHP (30%), Amoco Minerals of the USA (30%) and the PNG government and a German consortium with 20% each.
Mining began in 1984, with the production of gold ore to 1988. Concentration of the ore for export utilised cyanide, and in 1984 two major cyanide spills occurred: a transport barge capsized in the Fly delta and lost its load of 2600 60-litre drums of cyanide, and in another incident untreated cyanide waste was released into the river, killing fish, prawns, turtles and crocodiles.
A temporary tailings dam was originally built to contain and reduce waste, but a landslide demolished the dam site and the mine gained a reprieve from the requirement. Further postponement of the dam was contributed to by low world copper prices, the uprising on Bougainville and closure of the Panguna mine with subsequent loss of government revenue. In 1989 the PNG government abandoned hopes for a tailings dam and instead set a maximum allowable level for sediment and copper from the mine in the Fly.
The Fly River system is the largest in PNG, its tributaries beginning in the mountains of the western highlands. Mt Fubilan is at the headwaters of the Ok Tedi River, a major tributary of the Fly.
The Ok Tedi River flows for about 200 kilometres from Mt Fubilan to its junction with the Fly on the low flood plains of Western Province. The Fly then meanders for 800 km while dropping only 20 m to sea level at the Papuan Gulf. Annual rainfalls in the highlands frequently reach 10 m in some areas and, along with frequent landslides, deposit a lot of sediment in the river.
The mining of Mt Fubilan for copper ore can be accurately described as removing a mountain and dumping it along the Ok Tedi River, the Fly River, the Papuan Gulf and possibly the Torres Strait. In each operating day of the mine 100,000 tonnes of waste rock and 50,000 tonnes of tailings are dumped into the river system.
This extraordinary dumping is having some quite extraordinary effects on the riverine ecosystems. The Wau Ecology Institute (an independent PNG research institute) and the German Starnberg Institute have performed the only recent independent studies of the river systems. Their research found that the Ok Tedi River is biologically dead and the biodiversity of the Fly dramatically reduced.
Wau Ecology also calculated that between 50 and 100 tonnes of copper are dumped into the river system each day. The mine's environmental monitoring program does check suspended sediment and copper levels, but only in the downstream reaches of the Fly, where the concentrations of toxic substances are greatly reduced by the massive quantities of water from the rest of the Fly catchment. The company justifies this by saying that no-one lives along the Ok Tedi — a false statement.
Mine-derived sediment has raised the Ok Tedi riverbed by 10 metres, drowning villagers' fertile river bank gardens and adjacent forest. Villagers have been forced into shifting agriculture on nutrient-poor rainforest soils and into rainforest clearing.
The level of the Fly River has increased by one to three metres, and the flow rate has increased, eroding river banks and making river transport dangerous for traditional users. Fish stocks are reduced by 60-80% and people can no longer drink, swim or fish in the river because of the pollution.
The extent of the damage to the Fly is at best poorly understood and poorly detailed by the mine's monitoring program. The fact that suspended sediment and copper levels are at frightening levels is disputed by no-one.
An independent study by the Starnberg Institute in 1992 of the Ok Tedi River revealed levels of copper 1000 times higher than pre-mining levels, lead, iron, manganese and zinc 200 times higher, and arsenic 100 times higher. These figures are astronomically greater than levels encountered in the Rhine at the height of its pollution in the 1970s.
The PNG environment and conservation minister, Parry Zeipi, recently announced that his department would now be performing the monitoring of the mine's impact on the Fly River. Although this is a positive step, present legislation for Ok Tedi has set levels for waste and toxic substances that are way above the standards for rivers in the rest of the country.
In the lower reaches of the Fly there are extensive swamps, backwaters and mangroves which are regularly flooded and are spawning grounds for fish. The long-term outlook for fish stocks is poor because of the continued deposition of heavy metals such as copper in these areas by the flooding of the river. Mine-derived sediment may also inhibit photosynthesis by microscopic plants, destroying all life in the river.
The governor general of PNG, Sir Wiwa Korowi, recently condemned the environmental status of the mine and its impact on the people of Western Province, and stated that removal of the 25,000 people dependent on the Fly may be necessary.
The economic burden imposed by this and other problems created by the mine far outweigh the short-term benefits of copper export receipts to the PNG government. Impacts on the fishing industries of the Papuan Gulf and the tourism potential, the grassroots resentment against the mine and government, the loss of traditional lifestyles, the decreased quality of life, destruction of social structures and accompanying problems of law and order, and militarisation are all costs that will remain for many decades.
Ok Tedi is expected to continue operating for another 15 years at present levels of production. Community and environment groups are demanding that the mine build a new tailings dam or series of tailings dams to limit mine wastes escaping into the river system, or a decrease in production to levels that are compatible with ecological sustainability.
A protest against BHP's continued abuse of indigenous people in PNG and pollution of the Fly River, with speakers from Melanesia and Australia, will be held on Monday, September 13 at 1 p.m., corner of Hunter and Castlereagh Streets, Sydney. Bring: drums percussion, glad rags, music. For further info, contact Rich/Kate/Jason on 267 7929.