Freeport denies that it is causing damage to the environment

Gold and copper producer PT Freeport Indonesia has denied that it is causing damage to the environment in Papua province, especially in river linking to the Arafura Sea. Freeport is confident that its tailing disposal process has fulfilled the accepted standard practice and did not cause any damage to the environment, the Investor Daily Indonesia newspaper reported in its Friday edition.

?Tailing is a bunch of crushed soft stones from the remnants of the mineral ore. Mineral ore is crushed to extract the mineral through a special process, which is being used in our operations. Tailing is not poisonous because we are not using either cyanide or mercury,? PT Freeport Indonesia?s senior manager corporate communications Siddharta Moersjid told the Investor Daily in Jakarta on Thursday.

According to Siddharta, Freeport utilized the river?s water stream for transporting the tailing to an allocated area which is a remote area and a low lying area. An independent environmental audit has said that the Freeports?s tailing disposal is the best alternative because given the geo-technic situation, topography weather seismology and the quality of air.

Earlier State Minister of Environment Rachmat Witoelar said that damage to the environment caused by US gold mining company PT Freeport has reached a serious level.

"The damage caused by PT Freeport has been serious but I do not have the data on hand," Witoelar said on the sidelines of the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) workshop here on Wednesday.

He said his ministry had formed a team to measure the level of damage caused by the US company.

"Now our team can conduct research after PT Freeport refused it in the past, and the team is still working," he added.

According to him, the ministry will refer to existing standards, like appraisals, which have been applied to other companies.

Research will be conducted on suspected damage and contamination along the Ajkwa river from upstream to coastal areas.

Siddharta said Freeport will cooperate with the government.

?We will cooperate with the Ministry of Environment in all the aspects related to the environment like we have done before to enhance the quality of environmental management,? Siddharta said. (*)