Freeport given another deadline to complete ecological risk assessment

State Minister of Environment Nabiel Makarim on Thursday asked copper and gold mining giant PT Freeport Indonesia to complete its ecological risk assessment (ERA) on its mining sites in Papua province before the end of this year.

?The ERA must be completed this year,? Nabiel said in a parliamentary hearing.

The minister said the initial deadline for Freeport to complete the ecological risk assessment was October 2002. It had been extended because ERA results submitted to his office in September needed some clarification, Nabiel said without elaborating it.

Freeport will use ERA results to design programs of environmental protection in its mining sites in Timika, Papua.

The company had been accused of polluting Lake Wanagon with tailings from its mining projects, which had prompted the State Ministry of Environment to ask Freeport to review its environmental working plans.

PT Freeport Indonesia, a subsidiary of world mining giant Freeport-McMoran, operates huge copper and gold mines in Timika. (godang)