Newmont's ocean dumping (STD) impacts - new proof.

Through their community mapping of the waters of Buyat Bay from 15-30 June 2000, members of the community of Buyat Beach in Minahasa, North Sulawesi, found proof of the environmental damage caused PT Newmont Minhasa Raya’s (PTNMR) tailings (finely crushed rock as waste from mining processes) disposal.

Of the five maps produced by the community with support from WALHI, JATAM, and JKPP, the Bathymetric Map and the Map of Fishing Grounds serve as especially strong evidence that PT NMR has perpetrated environmental crimes in Buyat Bay.

The Bathymetric Map produced by the community shows significant changes as compared to the bathymetric map produced by PT NMR in 1997. The most striking changes occurred around the mouth of the waste pipe. Here, a topographic feature has come into existence in the form of an area of sediment (tailings) deposition approximately 10 meters deep and with a radius of 500-800 meters. These findings strengthen the research conclusions of the Center for the Study of Environment and Natural Resources at Sam Ratulangi University in Manado, which were presented at a public debate facilitated by WALHI in April 2000. At this forum the Center reported a trend towards shallowing around the talings pipe’s mouth, whereby the depth changed from 82 meters in 1997 to 70 meters in 1999. This means that during the two-year period in which PT NMR had been in production, the mine waste disposed of in Buyat Bay brought about a shallowing of 12 meters.

These facts are proof of lies propagated by the company about the safety of waste disposal system in Buyat Bay. The explanations given to the public by the company since operations began conform to assertions contained in PT NMR ’s EIA (Environmental Impact Assessment ­ Indonesian: ANDAL), produced in 1994. This EIA states that the tailings would be deposited in the form of a hill, and would not spread.

In reality, tailings have been deposited throughout nearly all of Buyat Bay. Recent documentation in the form of an underwater video recording made by WALHI during the community mapping exercises confirm this assertion. The video show a very serious level of damage. Ecosystems ranging from sea grass beds to coral reefs have been covered over by tailings. WALHI’s dive team, which had planned to document the pipe area to a depth of 82 meters, was forced to stop at a depth of 30 meters because visibility was obscured by the extreme turbidity of the water, brought about by fine particles of tailings waste and strands of thread-like material with the consistency of mucus.

These findings serve as conclusive proof that the relative depth of the thermocline layer (a layer of water separating separating stable layers of water above and below it) in Buyat Bay is no longer a proper subject for debate. The reality, as recorded in WALHI’s video, is that tailings particles have covered over the sea floor to a depth of about 10 meters.

The complaints of Buyat Beach residents concerning their decreasing fish catches can no longer by considered “opinion without proof” by PT NMR. The Map of Fishing Grounds of Buyat Fishermen produced through the community mapping activities shows that since PT NMR started disposing of tailings in Buyat Bay, the fishermen of Buyat have lost their traditional fishing grounds as a means of livelihood for their families.

Historical research employing the participatory rural appraisal method found that over the last five years, the number of species taken has fallen to only 22% of former levels. Fish which are associated with corals make up the majority of species no longer recorded in catches, whether by line or by net. The majority of the fish still caught in Buyat Bay area pelagic species, which pass through Buyat Bay in their migrations.

For further information: Contact JATAM
(Indonesian Mining Advocacy Network)

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