PT Newmont Nusa Tenggara Polluting Senunu Bay

TEMPO Interaktif, Mataram:

The Nusa Tenggara Barat Forum for the Environment (Walhi NTB) has said that tailings from PT Newmont Nusa Tenggara (PT NNT)'s Batu Hijau gold and copper mine are polluting the environment. The waste contains heavy metals and chemical elements, such as Arsenic (As), Barium (Ba), Cadmium (Cd), Cuprum (Cu), Plumbum / lead (Pb), Selenium (Se), and Silver (Ag), and is discharged on the sea bed through pipes more than 100 meters below the surface in Senunu Bay. 120,000 metric tons of tailings are produced everyday, which means a total of 1.045 billion tons will have been deposited by the time the operation packs up. This will disturb the local marine ecosystem, killing fish, and reducing biodiversity as the bay becomes more and more shallow.

The waste dumped in the sea through pipes will destroy the ecosystem at the bottom of the sea and the surrounding environment, said Yulianto SP, Coordinator of the Advocacy and Development Division of Walhi NTB on Tuesday afternoon (16/5). Local people were not properly involved in the Environmental Impact Analysis (EIA) that was carried out. Residents near the mine are not aware of the impact it has, the benefits it can give, their access rights or ways to overcome the impact. The concern is that people will be poisoned, suffering cancer or mental illness as a result of contamination from the heavy metals and chemical elements in the waste.

Walhi NTB is demanding the government carry out an environmental audit on PT NTT mine, meaning that the government should check the results of PT NNT's own EIA. "It is clear that this system is destroying the environment," Yulianto said. NTB Walhi suggests dumping the tailings on land, as this would be relatively safe for the environment. PT NNT has not yet responded to Walhi NTB's comments.
17-5-2000

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

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