Legislators again express concerns over Newmont's dumping site
Saturday, July 29 2000 - 02:00 AM WIB
Legislators in West Nusatenggara (NTB) province have again expressed their concerns over the negative impact of the marine dumping site of the United States-based gold mine operator Newmont Nusa Tenggara in the Senunu Bay in the province despite the company's guarantee that the waste dumping site is safe.
Lalu Putrajab, the secretary of the Commission C of the provincial legislative council, said in Mataram on Friday that the dumping site has become a time bomb which could explode any time, destroying not only the sea species but also the people living near the dumping site.
He said that the mine company's modern equipment could not guarantee that tons of the mineral waste or tailings dumped the dumped by the company into the bay would not reemerge and destroy the environment.
"An independent survey should be carried out to ensure the safety of the dumping site because the survey conducted by Newmont is no longer reliable," he was quoted as saying by Bali Pos on Saturday.
The company, which dumps at least 150,000 tons of mineral waste per day into the bay at the depth of 108 meters, have applied a number of modern equipment to ensure that the hundreds of tons of tailing dumped into the sea would not pollute the environment.
Syaiful Islam, the secretary of the Commission B of the legislative council, supported the idea on the need to conduct an independent survey to get fair information about the impact of the tailings on the environment.
According to Syaiful, the fresh survey is needed because there are indications that the tons of the tailings under the bay have caused pollution. "The local fishermen have felt the impact of the dumping site, with the decline in their catch from the area," he said.
He noted that the fishermen, who previously earned between Rp 25,000 and Rp 100,000 a day, now took home only about Rp 5,000 to Rp 15,000 a day due to the drop in fish resource.
The Newmont Mining Corporation has two subsidiaries in Indonesia, namely the Newmont Minahasa Raya (NMR) in North Sulawesi and PT Newmont Nusa Tenggara (NNT) in Nusa Tenggara. Both are involved in gold and copper mining.
The Newmont Nusa Tenggara started its commercial production earlier this year and has provided jobs for thousands of workers. (*)