Final government report maintains Newmont to blame on Buyat
Tony Hotland, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta
A government-sanctioned joint team announced its official report on alleged Buyat Bay pollution here on Wednesday, maintaining its stance that PT Newmont Minahasa Raya (NMR) is guilty of contaminating the bay in North Sulawesi.
The U.S.-based mining company failed to effectively monitor the detoxification process of its tailings before they were disposed of into the bay, resulting in high levels of metal substances there, it said.
The condition, the team added, was exacerbated after PT NMR in South Minahasa regency discarded the tailings at a level higher than the thermocline.
A thermocline is a region in the ocean that separates warmer oxygen-rich water from cold oxygen-poor deep water. It acts as a natural barrier that prevents tailings from resurfacing.
"Based on PT NMR's environmental planning and management documents for the 2000-2004 period, we found that the detoxification process was not thorough, nor complete.
"Such an incomplete process left behind metal substances, such as arsenic, mercury and cyanide, in the ocean," said Masnellyarti Hilman, who chairs the joint team.
She acknowledged that the team did not find a protective thermocline at 82 meters under sea level, as claimed by the company in its environmental impact analysis (AMDAL), which was issued before it commenced operations in 1996.
The analysis was issued by a commission established by the Ministry of Energy, which was then led by former minister I.B. Sudjana.
Masnellyarti said that it was almost impossible to find a thermocline at such a depth, and that NMR had failed to determine where the region was located in different seasons.
"Oceanographic experts have said that in tropical countries like Indonesia, the thermocline is usually located between 200 meters and 300 meters under sea level. In addition to that, the NMR should have examined where the region is located during the wet and dry seasons.
"Even in the United States, which has four seasons, miners must carry out such an examination at least three times," she explained.
The joint team's report shows that levels of arsenic and mercury in the bay's seabed were 666 mg/kg and over 1.51 mg/kg respectively, far exceeding the maximum standards set in the 2004 Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) marine water quality criteria of 300 mg/kg and 0.4 mg/kg of sediment.
Similar substances were found in well water consumed by Buyat residents, Masnellyarti said.
But further investigation was required to determine whether the contamination was linked to the discarded tailings from Newmont, she added.
State Minister of the Environment Rachmat Witoelar has said the government-formed team's findings would be used to back up police evidence in the Buyat Bay pollution case against Newmont.
The police had detained six NMR executives as suspects in the case but later placed them under city arrest. Their case files are being examined by prosecutors.
The six suspects could be charged under the Environmental Management Law, which carries a maximum penalty of 15 years in jail and a fine of Rp 750 million (US$84,269).
The Buyat case surfaced after dozens of local people filed a complaint with the National Police in Jakarta against NMR in August, saying the alleged contamination had adversely affected their health.
NMR has consistently refuted the charges, saying that levels of metal substances in water and fish in the bay were still below international standards.