Environmental impacts

IT was a grave concern regarding the environmental impact and all the health related issues this giant Frieda River project will create.
PNG need such project to prosper in terms of development, however development as such also have bad sides.
My utmost concern as a citizen, I want to question the scope of the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) study currently underway.
Environmental assessment (EA) is the term used for the assessment of the environmental consequences (positive and negative) of a plan, policy, programme, or project prior to the decision to move forward with the proposed action.
Will this study capture the inter-lands and coastal dwellers along the coast of Murik lakes?
Will the authorities consider and include the people of Shouten Island Group, Biem, Ruprup, Wei, Koil and Vokeo islands in this exercise?
We know that the project is located about 70kms south of the Sepik River on the border of the West Sepik and East Sepik some 500km upriver from the coast, the biggest worry is that, the spreading and the flow of mine waste to the open sea facilitated by the main river source of the Sepik river at Cape Girgir and streams outlets will surely have an impact to the coastal marine ecosystem and the people living on these islands will also be affected.
Project of such magnitude with the usage of modern devices and chemicals such as cyanide, sulphuric acid, and solvents for separating minerals from ore will surely pose long lasting effects.
As far as pollution is concerned, the natural air, our land, sea, rivers, streams, creeks, our marine resources, coastal shores and reefs are subject to threat.
No way in the world this type of project guarantee peoples safety.
What type of tailings or mine dump system the developer will use to cater for its waste?
Mine dumps, culm dumps, slimes, tails, refuse, leach residue, slickens, or terra-cone, are the materials left over after the process of separating the valuable fraction from the uneconomic fraction of an ore.
The bigger the scale of the mine, greater is the quantum of waste generated.
Out of the two major types of mining methods (opencast and underground).
The opencast mining methods are therefore more pollution intensive as they generate 8 to 10 times more quantities of waste compared to the underground mines.
There is no estimation that how much waste is generated by the mining industry globally.
But, everyone agrees that the quantity is so huge that is unimaginable.
For example, the production of 1 tonne of copper generates 110 tonnes of waste ore and 200 tonnes of overburden.
Therefore, it is a matter of concern that if the production of one metal is generating so much of waste, how much the entire industry would be generating?
So the location of project 500km upriver from coast is not far.
Coastal citizens must be covered.

Hanam Bill Sandu
Concerned Islander, LAE