‘Find other storage options’

By DALE LUMA
MINERAL Resources Authority (MRA) managing director Jerry Garry says other options for a storage facility must be considered for the Frieda River mining project.
Garry told The National that flaws were identified in the proposal for the development of an integrated storage dam.
He said this would not be approved because of the impacts it would have on the Sepik River.
“The Frieda project is complex and based on our preliminary assessment, we feel that there were many flaws in the proposal for development, particular the integrated storage dam,” Garry told The National.
“This is because they want to store water, tailings and crushed waste rocks and store it in the dam.
“For us, we feel that it’s in what we call a seismically active area and there are many active structures within the area and the studies they have undertaken to propose the structure have not met the requirements.
“So we have identified flaws in their requirement and recommended for them to upgrade and recommend that they look at other options rather than building the integrated storage facility.
“If they don’t have any fall-back retention in place, we will not allow that dam to be constructed because ultimately it will affect the Sepik River and that is something we don’t want because the river is the livelihood of so many people.”