Freeport told to close Wanagong dumping site

Freeport told to close Wanagong dumping site

JAKARTA (JP): The government will order copper and gold mining
company PT Freeport Indonesia to temporarily stop using Lake
Wanagong as a dumping site, following an incident that led to the
disappearance of four workers.

Director general of general mining at the Ministry of Mines
and Energy Surna Tjahja Djajadiningrat said on Friday the
government had decided to temporarily bar Freeport from dumping
the top soil of its mine -- which is also called overburden in
the industry -- into the lake until it improved safety measures
at the site.

Surna said he would sign the letter of order later on Friday
and send it to Freeport.

"You could say that we've suspended Freeport's utilization of
Lake Wanagong as its dumping ground," Surna said in a media
briefing.

The order, he said, followed a recommendation by the joint
team of the ministry and the Environmental Management Agency
(Bapedal), members of which have just returned from investigating
the cause of the landslide.

Last week, a large pile of overburden broke off and collapsed
into Lake Wanagong, causing a massive wave that swept away four
workers of Freeport's contractors, PT Petrosea and PT Graha Buana
Jaya working near the lake. The four workers are still missing.

Surna said if Freeport was unable to apply safety measures at
Lake Wanagong, it would have to find another area for its
overburden.

Surna declined to provide details on the impact of the
suspension order on Freeport's operation.

"As far as I know, without a dumping site, Freeport will not
be able to operate for longer than two months," he said.

State Minister of Environment Sonny Keraf earlier said the
government might suspend Freeport's operation if negligence was
proved to be behind the accident.

However, Surna said, thus far the team, who returned from
Freeport on Thursday, was unable to determine the exact cause of
the incident.

Freeport has blamed the collapse of the overburden pile on
heavy rainfall, which reached on average of 40 millimeters last
week.

According to Sonny, it was the third time the pile had broken
up. In 1998, heavy rain triggered a slide, while last March it
was due to an earthquake. In both cases, Freeport reported no
deaths or injuries.

Freeport had reportedly installed an early warning system on
the top of the overburden pile and down at the lake, but Surna
said it remained unclear why the early warning systems failed to
function.

Surna said the government and Freeport would continue to
investigate this matter.

Freeport spokesman Mindo Pangaribuan said he respected the
government's decision, but refused to further elaborate, as the
company had yet to formally receive the order.

He said apart from Lake Wanagong, Freeport had a second
dumping site, Qartenz, located southeast from the lake.

Mindo said that albeit the government's decision, Freeport
could keep operating at its normal production rate of 230,000
metric tons of ore per day.

He admitted, however, that if Freeport was prohibited from
using Lake Wanagong for a long period, the company might have to
"adjust" its production rate.

Legislator Pramono Anung praised the government's decision,
saying it was a step forward in disciplining Freeport.

He blamed the incident on a surge in the company's production,
which caused the volume of overburden to significantly increase
and added that the landslide indicated that the company was not
yet fully prepared to expand its output to 300,000 tons of ore
per day.

He said no landslide accidents had occurred at Freeport's mine
until 1997, when its output stood at 150,000 tons of ore per day.
(bkm)