Ramu NiCo confirms report of ‘minor spill’

RAMU nickel cobalt developer in Madang, Ramu NiCo Management (MCC) Ltd has confirmed that there was a “minor spill” of sodium hy­droxide at its refinery plant in Basamuk last Wednesday.
This follows reports on anti-mining blogs and websites that there was a “major spillage” of sulfuric acid into Basamuk Bay.
These same blogs and websites had earlier falsely claimed that Ramu NiCo operations had been stopped by the government, when in fact trial load commissions had been ongoing since March 4 this year.
MCC in a statement categorically denied “unfounded reports” that sulfuric acid had spilled into Basamuk Bay.
It said the “minor spilled liquid” was collected, cleaned and treated within 20 minutes after spillage, which was located within the chemical water treatment plant, which was located “quite a distance away from the sea shore”.
“The spill did not cause any injury to staff nor done any damage to the environment as the plant is within the refinery plant,” the statement said.
 “The spill did not disturb the normal operation of the refinery at all.”