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| Kiunga River Port (rettet-die-elbe) |
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| The Ok Tedi Mine and River |
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| Gold from Zimbabwe |
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| The Ok Tedi Mine |
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| Ball Mill |
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| The Ok Tedi River http://www.radioaustralia.net.au/international/2009-11-19/fate-of-pngs-ok-tedi-mine-depends-on-report-says-owners/143602 |
Copper and gold are currency metals, which are used to make coins. Gold is highly conductive metal and is used in most electronic devices, including cell phones. Gold is contained in connectors, switches, and relay contacts allows phones to remain free of corrosion. Copper is essential to many modern-day technologies and appliances, including transportation vehicles, heating and cooling systems, telecommunications, and power generation (Geology.com). Due to its conductive properties, relatively low production costs, and flexibility, it is used to make copper wire, which is an important part of modern life and is included in the technologies above.
The Ok Tedi mine is an open pit mine, which means that the native rock and other sediment are removed from a large tract of land to reach the wanted substances (in this case, copper and gold) ("Basics of an Open Pit Mine"). At the Ok Tedi mine, strategies like drilling (making holes to excavate or to fill with explosives) and blasting are employed (Kentucky Coal Education) ("OK Tedi Mine, Oceania, Papua New Guinea"). These allow for the separation of ore and overburden. The Ok Tedi mine produces 78,000 tons of ore and 80,000 tons of overburden annually ("OK Tedi Mine, Oceania, Papua New Guinea")
After it has been retrieved, the ore is first crushed into 200 mm pieces by gyratory crushers, then ground into sand on a grinding circuit that includes "semi-autogenous grinding (SAG) mills and ball mills" ("OK Tedi Mine, Oceania, Papua New Guinea"). The sand is then placed in flotation cells with reagents to create air bubbles, which attract the copper and gold minerals. Later, these compounds float to the surface for collection ("OK Tedi Mine, Oceania, Papua New Guinea"). The condensed slurry is sent through a 157 kilometer (97.5 mile) pipeline to the river port of Kiunga, where it is transported to consumers ("OK Tedi Mine, Oceania, Papua New Guinea").
According to the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF), “Up to 80,000 tonnes of waste rock and 120,000 tonnes of tailings are disgorged from the Ok Tedi/Fly River system - every day. In addition, 30 million tonnes of tailing ‘fine sand’ are discharged annually into local rivers.” (WWF) As a result, the lifestyle of around 30,000 locals, most notably the Yonngom, a group of about 4,500 living in the Lower Ok Tedi area, has been disrupted. Due to river pollution, they are no longer able to sell their garden produce, and the fish stocks have been severely depleted. "Ok Tedi’s reports revealed that fish stocks in the upper Ok Tedi had declined between 50% and 80% from pre-mining levels." (WWF).
According to the Australian Conservation Foundation (ACF), by the 1990s the first 70 km of the river was "almost biologically dead and species diversity over the next 130 km had been dramatically reduced. Fertile river bank subsistence gardens, plantations and approximately 8 km2 of forest have been destroyed." (Banks G.)
However, there is hope for the Ok Tedi area. In June of 1996, the Broken Hill Proprietary Company (which is the world's largest mining company) and local indigenous leaders reached an out-of-court settlement that included a binding agreement that BHP and Ok Tedi Mining Ltd. would create a $350 million tailings containment facility. This agreement would cause BHP and the Ok Tedi mine to become the first mine to not release tailings directly into rivers or the sea. The government originally only agreed to allow the mine if it had a tailings dam to filter out the waste from the mine before it entered the river. However, after the original dam was destroyed in a landslide, the owners of the mine successfully pushed to continue their mine operations without a replacement dam, which has caused widespread pollution.
The government has suggested that the mine only operates if there was a tailings dam built to filter out pollutants from the water. One was built but was destroyed by a landslide, and since then the mine operators are adamant on not building a new one. Overall, Government policies are not enforced enough that the mine actually follows these rulings.
The government has suggested that the mine only operates if there was a tailings dam built to filter out pollutants from the water. One was built but was destroyed by a landslide, and since then the mine operators are adamant on not building a new one. Overall, Government policies are not enforced enough that the mine actually follows these rulings.
Works Cited
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Fox, Liam. “PNG Government Takes Control of Ok Tedi Mine, Repeals Laws Protecting BHP from Legal Action over Pollution.” ABC News. ABC, 19 Sept. 2013. Web. 10 Mar. 2015. <http://www.abc.net.au/news/2013-09-19/png-government-takes-control-of-png-ok-tedi-mine/4967004>.
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“Papua New Guinea’s Government Opens New Controversy regarding the Ok Tedi Mine.” Mining Examiner. N.p., n.d. Web. 12 Mar. 2015. <http://www.911metallurgist.com/blog/png-makes-bhp-liable-for-environmental-damage-from-mine>.
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