Mori requests for funding to clean up cyanide at gold mines
ENVIRONMENT and Conservation Minister Wera Mori says he has written to Prime Minister James Marape to allocate funding in the 2021 budget to clean up cyanide in the river system at the Wild Dog gold mine in Sinivit, East New Britain. Mori said this in Parliament yesterday when responding to questions from ENB Governor Nakikus Konga on the mine that an aerial surveillance would be done to scope out how the cyanide would be removed.
“Cyanide is not an ordinary waste, it is very toxic and so we need to do an aerial surveillance so that we will work out how much it will cost to remove the waste up at Wild Dog (mine),” Mori said.
“It is unfortunate that it is a major problem because we have cyanide waste exposed.
“Unfortunately, the Neng makta creek that basically feeds into the Warangoi river system is a small creek and so it is not able to dilute (the cyanide) to the extent that we can expect it to be safe.”
Mori said he had raised it with Marape and other relevant ministers on the need to allocate money in the 2021 budget to clean up mines at Sinivit and Tolokuma in Central.
3 comments
“….we need to do an aerial surveillance so that we will work out how much it will cost to remove the waste up at Wild Dog (mine)!….”
Nonsense, how would you determine cost by doing an aerial survey?
Get you lazy officers to conduct surveys on foot along the Nengmukta river, collect samples and test for the presence of CN along Nengmukta including the other smaller streams coming down from Mt Sinivit – see how many of them can leave the comfort of their offices and walk the bushes of Baining.
Also collect samples from individual VATs and determine the concentration of CN in there and then decide on how to detoxify (remove and detox else where or detox in-situ)..
You dont need an expensive aerial survey by chopper – just take a drive up and conduct the foot surveys
Dont know the extend and concentration of CN onsite and already asking for money – hopefully this money if allocated doesnt disappear into the mountains of Baining…
Minister
Don’t forget the 2700 drums of cyanide in 15 containers that fell of Ok Tedi ship at mouth of Fly River in 1984 and rusting
Rube says it all. You only need to take a walk along the streams and rivers and collect water samples that comes out of Sinivit mine and be tested for free cyanide. Funding is critical at this stage for this clean up project as tonnes of cyanide are still sitting in the VATs and they can spill into the river system when a natural disaster strikes such a major earth quake strikes.
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