Freeport told to close Wanagong dumping site<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): The government will order copper and gold mining
\ncompany PT Freeport Indonesia to temporarily stop using Lake
\nWanagong as a dumping site, following an incident that led to the
\ndisappearance of four workers.<\/p>\n
Director general of general mining at the Ministry of Mines
\nand Energy Surna Tjahja Djajadiningrat said on Friday the
\ngovernment had decided to temporarily bar Freeport from dumping
\nthe top soil of its mine -- which is also called overburden in
\nthe industry -- into the lake until it improved safety measures
\nat the site.<\/p>\n
Surna said he would sign the letter of order later on Friday
\nand send it to Freeport.<\/p>\n
\"You could say that we've suspended Freeport's utilization of
\nLake Wanagong as its dumping ground,\" Surna said in a media
\nbriefing.<\/p>\n
The order, he said, followed a recommendation by the joint
\nteam of the ministry and the Environmental Management Agency
\n(Bapedal), members of which have just returned from investigating
\nthe cause of the landslide.<\/p>\n
Last week, a large pile of overburden broke off and collapsed
\ninto Lake Wanagong, causing a massive wave that swept away four
\nworkers of Freeport's contractors, PT Petrosea and PT Graha Buana
\nJaya working near the lake. The four workers are still missing.<\/p>\n
Surna said if Freeport was unable to apply safety measures at
\nLake Wanagong, it would have to find another area for its
\noverburden.<\/p>\n
Surna declined to provide details on the impact of the
\nsuspension order on Freeport's operation.<\/p>\n
\"As far as I know, without a dumping site, Freeport will not
\nbe able to operate for longer than two months,\" he said.<\/p>\n
State Minister of Environment Sonny Keraf earlier said the
\ngovernment might suspend Freeport's operation if negligence was
\nproved to be behind the accident.<\/p>\n
However, Surna said, thus far the team, who returned from
\nFreeport on Thursday, was unable to determine the exact cause of
\nthe incident.<\/p>\n
Freeport has blamed the collapse of the overburden pile on
\nheavy rainfall, which reached on average of 40 millimeters last
\nweek.<\/p>\n
According to Sonny, it was the third time the pile had broken
\nup. In 1998, heavy rain triggered a slide, while last March it
\nwas due to an earthquake. In both cases, Freeport reported no
\ndeaths or injuries.<\/p>\n
Freeport had reportedly installed an early warning system on
\nthe top of the overburden pile and down at the lake, but Surna
\nsaid it remained unclear why the early warning systems failed to
\nfunction.<\/p>\n
Surna said the government and Freeport would continue to
\ninvestigate this matter.<\/p>\n
Freeport spokesman Mindo Pangaribuan said he respected the
\ngovernment's decision, but refused to further elaborate, as the
\ncompany had yet to formally receive the order.<\/p>\n
He said apart from Lake Wanagong, Freeport had a second
\ndumping site, Qartenz, located southeast from the lake.<\/p>\n
Mindo said that albeit the government's decision, Freeport
\ncould keep operating at its normal production rate of 230,000
\nmetric tons of ore per day.<\/p>\n
He admitted, however, that if Freeport was prohibited from
\nusing Lake Wanagong for a long period, the company might have to
\n\"adjust\" its production rate.<\/p>\n
Legislator Pramono Anung praised the government's decision,
\nsaying it was a step forward in disciplining Freeport.<\/p>\n
He blamed the incident on a surge in the company's production,
\nwhich caused the volume of overburden to significantly increase
\nand added that the landslide indicated that the company was not
\nyet fully prepared to expand its output to 300,000 tons of ore
\nper day.<\/p>\n
He said no landslide accidents had occurred at Freeport's mine
\nuntil 1997, when its output stood at 150,000 tons of ore per day.
\n(bkm)<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/freeport-told-to-close-wanagong-dumping-site-1447893297",
"image": ""
},
"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
"sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com"
}