Ok Tedi - impacts in pictures

Dead rainforest at Bige

This forest is killed by waste from the Ok Tedi mine. 80,000 tons of waste is pumped into the river every day plus an extra 110,000 tons pushed over the side of the mining mountain. This waste has choked the rivers and overflows killing the rainforest.

Ok Tedi river and dead forest at Bige

The Ok Tedi river is a very large waterway. It flows into the Fly river which then runs for approximately 800 kilometers to the Torres Strait, near Cape York, Australia. So much waste is dumped by the mine into the river that forest is dying along a lot of the Fly river.

Dead Sago Trees at Kawok

Sago is the staple food for people living on the Fly and Ok Tedi rivers. The mine waste is killing the Sago swamps. Mine waste also kills 70 to 90% of the fish and the dead rainforest makes it hard for people find animals to eat.
People get only 120 kina a year in compensation from the mine (about $AU$70). This does not cover even basic food costs.

Copper spill from Tabubil to Kiunga pipeline

Ok Tedi mining and BHP have faced over ten years of protest and direct pressure for the mine's operations. Despite this the mine has failed to even clean up properly from smaller accidents.
This is copper that was spilt from the copper pipeline four years ago. The copper flows into nearby creeks and rivers. People used to get water and fish from these rivers.

Dead forest and mine sediment

Waste from the mine overflows the rivers and floods inland. This picture is taken 500 meters from the river. The foreground shows mine waste. The waste will kill forest many kilometers away from the river.
The waste also kills swamps and village gardens. People can not move to garden in another area as they are restricted to their traditional lands.

20 years of mining development

This is Mosquito Camp in Daru just outside the Fly river in the Torres Strait. These people are environmental refugees from their islands in the Fly river delta. Their Sago Swamps are dying. Their fish are dying. There are very few crocodiles to catch. All the food tastes different and the sago which used to keep for three months has to be made everyday now.

One Days worth of fish catch at the Daru Market

People in Daru and from the Fly river tell of how the fishing has changed. It's hard to find big fish today. One in twenty Barramundi have sores on their tails. One in five Mud Fish have sores. And the fish taste different today. It is unlikely the fishing will recover for generations.

Ok Tedi and Fly river traditional landowners dump tailings at BHP in Melbourne

April 2000: After four years of inaction from BHP the Ok Tedi and Fly river landowners returned to court. An out of court settlement in 1996 committed BHP to implement feasible waste disposal, that is stop dumping tailings into the river. BHP has not done this. The landowners in this picture are about to announce renewed legal action for breach of the out of court settlement