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Business |
Lack of mine waste disposal system
PNG’s big problem
By ELIZABETH VUVU
THE BIGGEST problem today with mining
companies in Papua New Guinea is the lack of effective mine
tailings disposal systems, Manus provincial administrator Wep
Kanawi said recently.
Mr Kanawi was reacting to a recent study by Dr Sylvester Kotapu
which revealed toxic metals in blood samples of Goilala and Mekeo
people from mine discharge from the Tolukuma gold mine.
Noting that miners in the country have a big problem with their
mine waste disposal, Mr Kanawi said he was not surprised with Dr
Kotapu’s findings.
Ten years ago, Mr Kanawi created the National Environmental
Watchdog in Port Moresby that kept track of mine tailings
disposal.
Mr Kanawi said during his time with NEW, people living along the
Auga and Angabanga rivers of Central province came to them and
complained about the river being polluted by mine tailings..
Mr Kanawi said he had assigned a qualified chemist to collect
river water samples which later showed high levels of toxic
chemicals during laboratory analysis.
“We wrote to the Department of Environment and Conservation and it
promised to do something about it but apparently never got around
to doing anything,” he said.
He said if the river system had been undergoing pollution for that
long, then there was no doubt about the recent findings.
 
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