MPI and NEWG media releases on the cyanide spill at Tolukuma
Media reports
Australian company's cyanide spill in PNG
ABC Radio "PM" show - Thursday, March 23, 2000An Australian mining company concedes that up to 150 kilograms of sodium cyanide have found their way into Papua New Guinea waterways. The Sydney-based Dome Resources accidentally lost one tonne of the chemical out of a helicopter on its way to the Tolukuma mines. The company claims that up to 70 per cent of the cyanide pellets have been recovered, and any contamination will be minimal. But Green Groups are comparing the spill to the cyanide poisoning of rivers in Romania and Hungary by a half-owned Australian mine.
Cyanide diluted after PNG spill, says Aust company
The Australian mining company responsible for a cyanide spill in Papua New Guinea says the amount of chemical that has reached local waterways is unlikely to cause much damage.Michael Silver, from Dome Resources, the company operating the mine in PNG, says up to 150 kilos of cyanide pellets may have dissolved in nearby streams.
Mr Silver says clean-up teams have recovered up to 70 per cent of the pellets, accidentally dropped from a helicopter yesterday.
He says any cyanide that reaches the waterways will be heavily dilluted.
But Igor O'Neil, from the Mineral Policy Institute, holds a much graver view, saying the cyanide was lost in its most concentrated form.
"So even when it's diluted, one teaspoon full of 2 per cent cyanide solution is enough to kill an adult human and much lower concentrations are all it takes to kill fish life and other animals," he said.
Some PNG cynanide has dissolved into local water system
The Australian mining company responsible for a cynanide spill in Papua New Guinea admits some of the chemical has dissolved into the local water system.One tonne of cyanide was accidentally dropped from a helicopter while being airlifted to the Australian-owned Tolukuma gold mine.
Clean-up teams from Dome Resources, which operates the mine, say they have recovered up to 70 percent of the cyanide pellets
But the company's managing director, Michael Silver, has told Sky Television up to 150 kilograms of cyanide may have found its way into local waterways.
"Probably something like 100 - 150 kilos would probably have dissolved," he said
"Obviously it forms parts per million within the local water system and then that will be diluted very substanially and fortunately the area in which it has landed is very sparsely populated and it is an area which doesn't have a lot of stream flowing in it," Mr Silver said.
Mining company defends safety standards in cyanide drop
An Australian mining company has defended its safety standards, after losing a tonne of cyanide pellets in Papua New Guniea.The cargo fell from a helicopter into an uninhabited area about 85 kilometres north of Port Moresby on Tuesday morning, while en route to a gold mine in Tolukuma.
Most of the cyanide has been recovered, and contamination tests and a clean-up operation will continue today.
Dome Resources managing director Michael Silver says it was an horrific accident, but insists the company's safety standards are adequate.
"I think we would probably have stricter safety standards in Papua New Guinea, precisely because we are very concerned," he said.
"We have very, very stringent precautions and we closely monitor all the activities of all of our nationals."
Cyanide spill link to Aussie goldminer
By STEPHEN LUNN 23mar00
AN Australian goldmining company is at the centre of another cyanide scare after a one-tonne shipment was accidentally dropped from a helicopter into mountains in Papua New Guinea.
The wooden crate containing the cyanide pellets burst open when it hit the ground, mining industry watchdog the Minerals Policy Institute reported yesterday. The accident occurred on Tuesday when the shipment was being transported to Dome Resources' Tolukuma gold mine, 100km north of Port Moresby.
Dome had admitted about 15 per cent of the crate's contents had spilled, institute director Geoff Evans said yesterday.
Two river systems, the Angabanga and the Mekeo, run downstream from the mine and in the vicinity of the spill site, with Papua New Guinea's national disaster and emergency service issuing a warning not to drink from natural watercourses.
The accident comes after another cyanide spill from a part-Australian-owned gold- mining operation in Romania, blamed by the Hungarian Government for contaminating drinking water in the Tisza River and contributing to the deaths of thousands of fish.
Perth gold-producing company Esmeralda, half-owner of the Romanian operation, went into voluntary administration last week after the contamination incident late last month.
"Repeated cyanide spills force us to ask whether cyanide usage in goldmining should be limited or even banned," Mr Evans said. "Australian mining companies . . . must maintain the same standards whether operating overseas or in our own backyard," he said.
Dome said the cyanide was not close to any areas of habitation, gardens or village water sources. The accident happened as it was transporting two one-tonne boxes of pellets to Tolukuma, where the chemical is used for processing gold ore.
Managing director Michael Silver said the cyanide had been found yesterday about 500m from where the company had set up a base camp. "We are hopeful that we will recover as much as we possibly physically can."
Mr Silver said any material that could not be recovered would be neutralised with ferrous sulphate.
"It's no excuse, but we have probably flown in almost 1000 tonnes of chemicals and this is the first time we have had this sort of an accident," he said.
Greenpeace campaigner Benedict Southworth said the cyanide spillage in Papua New Guinea was in the same concentrated form as in the Romanian incident.
Source: The Australian
PNG mining company says cyanide accident is no disaster
The Australian gold mining company at the centre of a cyanide accident in Papua New Guinea says there will be minimal damage to the environment and no people will be affected.Dome Resources says it's has recovered 65-percent of a box containing cyanide pellets, which fell from a helicopter on its way to the mine on Tuesday morning.
The box was found 24 hours later in muddy terrain, near a small creek which feeds into a river about 10 kilometres upstream from the nearest village.
Locals have been warned not to drink the water until tests have been carried out.
Dome's managing director, Michael Silver denies the accident is a disaster:
We do not consider it to be serious. We do not consider it to be a disaster. We do not at this stage envisage it will cause any danger to any human life and we expect that we will minimise any danger to the environment.
PNG disaster official expects full inquiry into cyanide spill
Disaster relief officials in Papua New Guinea say they expect a full inquiry into how a ton of cyanide pellets fell off a helicopter in Central Province on Tuesday.The cyanide pellets were being transported over rugged terrain to the Tolukuma gold mine, 85 kilometres north of Port Moresby.
The mine operator, Dome Resources of Australia, says the pellets fell into an area of about one square kilometre, and a team is in the area to begin the decontamination process.
PNG officials say they hope to know later today if a nearby river has been affected.
Deputy disaster director, Martin Mose, says he also expects an inquiry.
That's very interesting. I think we will not let that slip by. We will be liaising closely with the appropriate authority concerned with that. I think we will be looking at that very closely and try to establish how the situation happened.
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