Yama wants mine shut down

MADANG Governor Peter Yama has called for the closure of the Ramu NiCo mine.
It follows a report by independent investigators brought in by the Madang provincial government to investigate Ramu Nico’s deep sea tailings placement.
Yama said the independent scientists led by Dr Alex Mojon would also be releasing a report on their findings of the recent slurry spill at Ramu Nico’s Basamuk mine.
The company could not be reached for a comment.
The Conservation and Environment Promotion Authority (Cepa) report on it is still incomplete.
Yama said even though the province understood the importance of mines and extractive industries for the economic benefit of the province and the country, damage to the environment should not be ignored.
“Conservation and Environment Promotion Authority failed to protect the environment, allowing the operators to dump toxic waste directly into the environment,” he said.
“So from my observation, and I went down there two or three times to Basamuk and the coastline of Madang, I see a lot of the effect of the slurry.
“The grass and coconut trees are dying away.
“The information I am getting from the people on the ground that the food, bananas are all dying.”
Yama said the spill at Basamuk “happened three times (and) they have been keeping it a secret”.
“Cepa have not been giving us the full report of what happened twice, now is the third time,” he said.