Freeport causes serious damage to environment: Minister

State Minister of Environment Rachmat Witoelar has accused gold giant Freeport Indonesia of causing a serious damage on the environment near, particularly to the location near the company's mineral waste disposal area, Investor Daily reported Thursday.

Speaking in a seminar on Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) held in Jakarta Wednesday, Witoelar said that the existing data clearly indicated that the company's tailing had caused a serious pollution along the Ajkwa river to the coastal area where the waste was dumped.

"A number or species in the river have disappeared due to the tailing dumped by Freeport," he was quoted as saying.

The minister's office said early this week that a team of environmental experts would be sent latter next month to audit the waste management system of the gold and copper giant which dumps its mineral waste, known as tailing, into the nearby sea through Ajkwa-Aghwagon-Otomona rivers.

The audit would start from a location near the sea where the company dumped its mineral waste or tailing, then to the Ajkwa-Aghwagon-Otomona rivers, as well as the company's lime processing plant. (*)