Mine denies spill killing sea life

ALLIED Gold Ltd, the operator of Simberi gold in New Ireland, has denied reports that waste from its mine is killing life in waters in the vicinity of its processing plant.
Simon Jemison, head of investor and media relations for AGL, told Radio Australia’s Pacific Bear that the spillage of waste material was small, and confined to an area on land, so it could not have affected sea life.
Jemison blamed the media, especially the Post Courier newspaper, for exaggerating and getting the story out of proportion.
Jemison described the front page coverage  last week as “hysterical reporting”.
“About a week ago, there was a small leak to a small pipe outside our process plant on the island of Simberi, and the leak to this pipe is onshore from our process plant.
“It oozes out some ground-up ore, which is the process mud that is created when you are extracting gold from the ore,” Jemison said.
“So, contrary to some reporting, there has been no cyanide spill and we hope to repair this pipe in the next couple of days and be in operation thereafter.
“This is an onshore activity so there was no dispersal or leaking of any materials into the sea.
“We have environmental monitoring in place.
“It is always part of our programme and we take our environmental responsibilities seriously,” Jemison said.
“Contrary to some reporting, we cannot believe and see how there can be an impact to the marine environment given the activity is on land, onshore, and is about 100m away from our processing plant.”