Freeport to complete ecological risk assessment in October

State Ministry of Environment is still awaiting the results of the ecological risk assessment (ERA) conducted by copper and gold miner PT Freeport Indonesia on its mining sites in Papua, Minister Nabiel Makariem said on Thursday.

?The ERA is planned for completion by October 2002,? Nabiel said in a hearing with a House commission in charge of energy and mineral resources affairs.

Freeport will use the ecological study results for improving its working plans for environmental protection, the minister said.

The company had been accused of polluting Lake Wanagon with tailings from its mining activities.

As a result, the State Ministry of Environment had asked 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, Papua.

It was among several mining companies in eastern Indonesia which allegedly had caused environmental damages. The other firms included PT Newmont Minahasa Raya in North Sulawesi; PT Inco (South Sulawesi); PT Aneka Tambang (Southeast Sulawesi); and PT Semen Tonasa (South Sulawesi). (Godang)