By Alice Dellar Despite recent controversy over the environmental damage caused by their mines at Ok Tedi and Bougainville, giant mining corporation RTZ (recently amalgamated with CRA), has started constructing a new gold mine in Papua New Guinea. The new mine, developed in conjunction with the PNG government, will be built on Lihir Island, the largest island in the Lihir group, 700 kilometres north east of Port Moresby. Lihir Island is a volcano, although it has not erupted since recorded history. The presence of hot springs and fumaroles indicate persistent geothermal activity, and the possibility of an eruption sometime during the 36 years of the mine's expected life cannot be ruled out. The gold deposits on Lihir are located in the heart of the volcano, the hottest areas. Initial studies indicate that the temperature there is at least 170 degrees celsius, which makes the question of how to cool it efficiently a major factor in the planning of the mine. Since Lihir will be the first mine built inside a volcano, the technology used to cool the mine has never been tested. RTZ is proposing to pump seawater through the mine and back into the sea. The effects on the Lihir islands' ecosystems of large quantities of hot water being continuously dumped into the ocean will be enormous. According to independent hydraulic experts consulted by RTZ, the proposed cooling process is feasible, but there is uncertainty about whether it would actually work. Another problem with the proposed mine is that Lihir Island is situated on an earthquake fault-line and experiences frequent tremors. All structures within the mine will therefore have to be built to withstand possible earthquakes. While RTZ has taken this into account with the design of the pit structures and employee services, according to a report by geo-technical experts employed by RTZ, the storage areas for the stockpile of ore and waste are not strong enough. RTZ has rejected this report on the basis that the same structure has been used at its CRA mine in Bougainville without any problems.
Stockpiles
The recent furore around BHP's mine at Ok Tedi has highlighted the issue of mining waste (tailings) disposal. The Lihir mine will have two operating stages; during the first, of about 15 years, the higher-grade gold will be mined and the lower grade gold in mixed ore will be stockpiled. For the next 21 years, the lower-grade ore stockpile will be processed for the gold. Over the first 15 years of the project, it is expected that 62,317 tonnes of ore will be stockpiled, awaiting processing. This will be stored in a pit adjacent to the open mining pit. In addition to the stockpiled ore 341,432 tonnes of waste will be produced. At the height of the open-mining period there will be about 35,000 tonnes a year of waste. On top of that, a further 33,151 tonnes of waste will be produced by the processing of the high-grade ore. All of this waste has to be disposed of. RTZ are very aware of what they call the "Ok Tedi factor". Following the huge compensation claims and international outrage against BHP, provoked by that company's practice of dumping of large amounts of waste in the Ok Tedi river, RTZ plans to avoid disposing of the tailings in the river. Instead, it is proposing to dump the waste straight into the sea — to a depth of about 125 metres and only 1.5 kilometres from Lihir Island. It is hoped that the waste will slide down an ocean trench, the logic being that at such depths it will fail to affect the surface layer of the ocean. Most governments have banned this method of waste disposal as the waste contains high amounts of metal which can contaminate the sea bed, the long-term impacts of which are still unknown. Processing ore involves large amounts of cyanide. While this cyanide is mostly detoxified by its contact with the metals in the waste, at least 10% of the poison will remain in the sea. This is hardly good news for the Lihir islanders who mostly survive by fishing. However, the Lihir mine prospectus states that this is not a problem; should fish encounter the waste "behavioural avoidance" will take place and the fish will survive!
Compensation?
The mine will have a huge impact on the lifestyle and self-sufficiency of local residents. There are 7100 people living in the Lihir group of islands, 5000 of those on Lihir Island. They survive through subsistence agriculture, supplemented by a few cash crops. In addition to fish, their main source of food is a particular species of bird which, while not unique to Lihir, is mainly located in the rainforests there. RTZ's mining operation is expected to wipe out 75% of the bird's habitat, possibly eliminating this food source from the islands. RTZ expects to employ mainly Lihirians to work its mine. However, this amounts to only 620 permanent jobs — less than a third of the adult population on the island. The mine will also employ expatriate personnel. The Lihirians will work six days a week, on a six weeks on, one week off roster. The expatriates' roster, however, will be six weeks on, two weeks off. RTZ has entered into a comprehensive "compensation" package with the Lihirians. This includes relocation facilities for those who will be dispossessed, as well as compensation for loss of livelihood. The total amount spent by RTZ will be $22 million — $3000 per Lihirian. Most of this "compensation" money, however, will be spent on constructing hospitals and schools for the mine work force, facilities that would have had to be built anyway. In return, the Lihirians have signed an agreement that they will not bring further lawsuits of any kind against RTZ for compensation. RTZ concede that this agreement is probably not legally valid but argue that it serves as a psychological barrier to legal action by the inhabitants. Further, RTZ cite the physical and cultural isolation of the Lihirians as the prime reason they are confident about running the mine without civil unrest. In the prospectus for the mine, RTZ admits that compensation claims for rehabilitation will probably emerge toward the end of the life of the mine (that is, when the population realise that when the gold is gone RTZ will depart, leaving a big hole in the ground and little else). The company argues that the mine is under no obligation to meet any such claims and has therefore not allowed for such costs. The PNG government has a 30% share in the Lihir mine, as it does in Ok Tedi and Bougainville. While it has a significant financial interest, the government has no direct control over the mine. Local groups say that the government shares compromise its ability to deal objectively with the environmental impact of the mine. RTZ has stated openly that the PNG government has agreed to exempt the mine if harsher environmental restrictions are imposed. The massive destruction of people's lives and the environment that will accompany Lihir mine will net RTZ a total of less than 14,000 tonnes of gold.