PNG Landowners and Environmentalists to Protest against BHP re its Ok Tedi Mine
MPI & FOE Media Release
11 April 2000
Friends of the Earth and Mineral Policy Institute join landowners from Papua New Guinea to protest against the ongoing dumping of tailings and waste rock by the Ok Tedi Mining Limited (OTML) into the Ok Tedi-Fly River system.
At 12.30pm today, landowners and protestors will dump 'tailings' outside the head office of BHP at 600 Bourke Street, Melbourne. The action is to highlight the devastating impact of the mine and to call for BHP, the majority shareholder of OTML, to take full responsibility to clean up their mess and to facilitate a culturally appropriate and sustainable social plan for communities affected by the mine.
"Rivers and lands are our life. The Ok Tedi River is dead and the Fly River is also affected by the pollution. Forests are dying and our communities will be left with the mess from the mine for a long, long time. We are worried for our children and grandchildren. We come here, to Australia, to demand BHP to take full responsibility for the disaster, for as long as the damage remains' says Rex Dagi, landowner from the Western Province of PNG.
According to Cam Walker, Spokesperson for Friends of the Earth, "If the damage was in Australia, the Ok Tedi mine would have been shut down long ago. It is appalling that a multinational corporation such as the BHP has done so little, despite the negative worldwide publicity it received and the expensive court case in the past, to minimise the damage from the mine. We cannot allow the Ok Tedi disaster to continue!"
Despite warnings from environmental organisations and the court case in 1996, OTML continues to dump an average of 80,000 tonnes of tailings and let 110,000 tonnes of waste rocks enter into the river everyday. Eventually, 1,000km of river system, which 50,000 people depend upon for survival, will be adversely affected by the huge wave of sediment that is slowly moving down the Fly River into the Gulf of Papua. About 650 square kilometre of forest has already died to date. OTML's own studies indicated that up to 4,000 square kilometre of forest might eventually die. These damages will last for most of the 21st century. They will have devastating effects on the people in the Western Province of PNG, and potentially, the Torres Strait Islands as well as the Great Barrier Reefs in northern Australia.
"Ok Tedi is a social and environmental disaster. BHP has to commit to cleaning up its mess, for as long as the impact is felt or it will leave an Ok Tedi legacy of disaster", says Simon Divecha from the Mineral Policy Institute.
Friends of the Earth and Mineral Policy Institute call on the Australian Government to impose tougher legislation on Australian mining companies operating overseas. "We must bind Australian companies to stricter laws so that there will not be another Ok Tedi or another Panguna mine that led to the Bougainville crisis, or the recent cyanide spills in Romania and PNG.' Concludes Cam Walker.
For more information, contact : Cam Walker 0419 338 047
Simon Divecha 02 9387 5540
Simon Divecha has current video footage of the impact of the Ok Tedi Mine.
Friends of the Earth and Mineral Policy Institute join landowners from Papua New Guinea to protest against the ongoing dumping of tailings and waste rock by the Ok Tedi Mining Limited (OTML) into the Ok Tedi-Fly River system.
At 12.30pm today, landowners and protestors will dump 'tailings' outside the head office of BHP at 600 Bourke Street, Melbourne. The action is to highlight the devastating impact of the mine and to call for BHP, the majority shareholder of OTML, to take full responsibility to clean up their mess and to facilitate a culturally appropriate and sustainable social plan for communities affected by the mine.
"Rivers and lands are our life. The Ok Tedi River is dead and the Fly River is also affected by the pollution. Forests are dying and our communities will be left with the mess from the mine for a long, long time. We are worried for our children and grandchildren. We come here, to Australia, to demand BHP to take full responsibility for the disaster, for as long as the damage remains' says Rex Dagi, landowner from the Western Province of PNG.
According to Cam Walker, Spokesperson for Friends of the Earth, "If the damage was in Australia, the Ok Tedi mine would have been shut down long ago. It is appalling that a multinational corporation such as the BHP has done so little, despite the negative worldwide publicity it received and the expensive court case in the past, to minimise the damage from the mine. We cannot allow the Ok Tedi disaster to continue!"
Despite warnings from environmental organisations and the court case in 1996, OTML continues to dump an average of 80,000 tonnes of tailings and let 110,000 tonnes of waste rocks enter into the river everyday. Eventually, 1,000km of river system, which 50,000 people depend upon for survival, will be adversely affected by the huge wave of sediment that is slowly moving down the Fly River into the Gulf of Papua. About 650 square kilometre of forest has already died to date. OTML's own studies indicated that up to 4,000 square kilometre of forest might eventually die. These damages will last for most of the 21st century. They will have devastating effects on the people in the Western Province of PNG, and potentially, the Torres Strait Islands as well as the Great Barrier Reefs in northern Australia.
"Ok Tedi is a social and environmental disaster. BHP has to commit to cleaning up its mess, for as long as the impact is felt or it will leave an Ok Tedi legacy of disaster", says Simon Divecha from the Mineral Policy Institute.
Friends of the Earth and Mineral Policy Institute call on the Australian Government to impose tougher legislation on Australian mining companies operating overseas. "We must bind Australian companies to stricter laws so that there will not be another Ok Tedi or another Panguna mine that led to the Bougainville crisis, or the recent cyanide spills in Romania and PNG.' Concludes Cam Walker.
For more information, contact : Cam Walker 0419 338 047
Simon Divecha 02 9387 5540
Simon Divecha has current video footage of the impact of the Ok Tedi Mine.
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