A report into the daily operations of Papua New Guinea's Tolukuma goldmine claims that the mine's Australian operators expect to wipe out all fish life and food resources along a 30-kilometre stretch of a nearby river. This is a direct consequence of the mine dumping its waste into the Angabanga and Auga Rivers, say the report's authors, the Mineral Policy Institute (MPI), Greenpeace Australia and the Environmental Law Centre.
In March, Sydney-based Dome Resources spilled almost a tonne of concentrated sodium cyanide pellets from a helicopter on its way to the Tolukuma mine. That prompted an investigation into the clean-up and the mine itself, located in mountainous terrain 100 kilometres north of the capital, Port Moresby.
The resulting report, "Cyanide Crash: Report on the Tolukuma Gold Mine Cyanide Spill in Papua New Guinea, March 2000", quotes Dome Resource's own environmental information, prepared in 1993, which states, "High sediment deposition rates are expected to cause obliterative impacts on the fish habitats and food resources of these sediment impacted reaches". This "obliterative" impact stretches about 30 kilometres down the Auga River to the Angabanga River.
The mine dumps about 60,000 tonnes of tailings each year. Waste rock dumping adds an extra 60,000 tonnes. The company estimates half of that will enter the river system.
The report authors criticise the mine's environmental plan for its lack of discussion of the impact of heavy metals on fish and humans, and its failure to acknowledge bio-accumulation (when toxins are not excreted by humans and animals, but continue to accumulate in their bodies).
"Any further analysis of the waste dumping impacts would inevitably conclude that dumping mine waste into a river is not an acceptable practice. The waste contains large quantities of toxic, persistent and bio-accumulative chemicals. The waste could reasonably be expected to have a long term and potentially irreversible impact on the environment", the environmental report states.
"Dome Resources, the operators of the Tolukuma goldmine, knew before opening the mine that the operation would wipe out fish and food. Yet it continues to operate in an environmentally destructive manner without accountability", Greenpeace toxins campaigner Mark Oakwood said.
"The company is cynically exploiting a poor country and in the process destroying people's livelihood and the environment", said MPI director Geoff Evans. "It is well past time the Australian government stopped the overseas excesses of Australian mining companies", Evans said.
The environmental groups' report also documents Dome's March cyanide spill and subsequent clean-up efforts. On March 21, the poison plummeted from a sling underneath a Tolukuma helicopter and landed 20 metres from a creek.
The helicopter was carrying the cyanide, intended for use in separating gold from raw ore, from the Tolukuma base at Veimauri to the mine site. PNG has no laws about the transport of hazardous material. Three days later Dome claimed that the cleanup was complete. It said it had removed contaminated top soil and recovered 95% of the cyanide.
On March 26, a representative of local landowners, Billie Strange, and representatives of Greenpeace visited the site. They found no evidence that top soil had been removed and large quantities of iron cyanide, the product of stabilising cyanide, were present around the crash site.
"Legislation is needed to regulate the operations of Australian companies operating overseas", the report states. It also calls on PNG to adopt tougher mining laws, including legislation forcing mining companies to build roads to transport dangerous chemicals. It calls for a ban on the transportation of cyanide and chemicals in helicopters.
The report concludes: "The environmental and social costs of goldmining with cyanide can outweigh the benefits for many affected communities throughout the world. Safe alternatives to cyanide use need to be implemented and where this is not practical new mines should not proceed."
[Abridged from the Environment News Service (ENS) online at:
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