Freeport has no license for its tailing dumping ground
Thursday, January 5 2006 - 03:13 AM WIB
"Freeport has not received a license from the ministry of environment (for its tailing dumping ground)," the deputy of the state minister of environment, Rasio Ridho Sani was quoted as saying by the newspaper.
According to Rasio, the licenses issued by Papua governor to allow Freeport dump its mineral tailings into the rivers is not enough. He said that the ministry's team would be soon dispatched to inspect the tailing ground.
Rasio said that Freeport had been warned by the Ministry of Environment and the industrial waste management agency (Bapedal) for many times since 1997 to get a proper license for its tailing dumping ground.
Freeport claimed that the company has received an approval from the local governments, both from the provincial administration of Papua and the Mimika regency, to dump its tailing into Aghwagon, Otonoma and Ajkawa rivers.
In addition, Freeport also said that the operation of the tailing dumping ground was an integral part of the company's environmental impact analyses Amdal which had received the government's approval.
No immediate comments are available from Freeport's management. (*)