Newmont says it prioritizes environmental protection in Sumbawa

Copper and gold miner PT Newmont Nusa Tenggara is one of eight companies that recently received a government award for meeting environmental standards in its operations. The company, a subsidiary of U.S.-based Newmont Mining Corporation, operates the Batu Hijau mine in Sumbawa, West Nusa Tenggara. The Jakarta Post reporter Fitri Wulandari spoke with Grantley Batterham, the firm's environmental manager, on how the company is reducing its impact on the environment.

Q: What kind of waste or pollution does your company produce?

Clearly, the most important waste product in our operations is tailings (material rejected from a mill after the recoverable valuable minerals have been extracted). We have a well- engineered, sub-sea tailing system. It is 3.2 kilometers offshore at a depth 110 meters below the biological productive zone where all commercial fish, plankton and coral reefs are. It discharges at the head of Senunu canyon, which lies at a depth of 3,000 meters to 4,000 meters and eventually goes into the Lombok trench, which is over 5,000 meters deep.

We have an extensive monitoring program that shows the tailings never rise into the productive zone and affect the fishing areas. Our heavy metal monitoring program shows that none of the fish pick up heavy metals. How do you manage your mine water?

We have spent about US$100 million on water management at Batu Hijau. We operate a closed water management system that collects all the water from within our mine in large sediment containment ponds. We pump the water to a central pond that has a capacity of over 7 million cubic meters. If the water is not of dischargeable quality, we send it to the mill at the processing plant. It neutralizes the water and extracts heavy metal so that afterwards, the water has a very low heavy metal concentration.

A study by a team from the office of the West Nusa Tenggara governor and the Indonesian Institute of Sciences (LIPI) confirmed last year that we had a very low level of heavy metal and will not have any impact to the environment. Do you monitor regularly the sub-sea tailings system for any leakage or damage?

The tailings system has an automatic pressure monitoring system that can monitor small fluctuations in pressure down the pipeline, including the offshore section. It documents what the normal operating parameters are. If the parameters go outside the norm, it sends an alarm and the plant will go to a manually operated shutdown procedure.

We have a crew that goes along the onshore section every hour of every day. The onshore tailings pipeline is inside a containment corridor such that if a small leak comes from the onshore section, it will be contained and directed to the catchment pond.

Every month, we check the offshore tailings pipeline using a remotely operated vehicle that goes down along the pipeline. How do you respond to protests from activists about your company's operations?

We take all complaints from anyone seriously and investigate them all. We operate transparently if anyone has a serious complaint: People are welcome to come here and see for themselves what we do. Do you have environmental audits?

We have several layers of audit. We have our own internal auditing where a team of compliance people audit every area across our site, including all contractors, monthly. The audits give a performance score that is included in the calculation of the staff performance bonus. If people don't comply with the environmental requirements, they might be affected financially.

This year we have trained 19 auditors on site to review the implementation of our corporate environmental standards and our compliance with Newmont corporate environmental standards.

We have independent auditors who visit every Newmont site throughout the world.

We also have a regular government audit from the environment department and the Department of Energy & Mineral Resources. The governor of West Nusa Tenggara also has established an independent team with members from universities and NGOs to audit our environmental management. How much do you allocate financially for environmental protection?

Last year, we spent over $6 million on environmental matters. About $3.7 million was spent on reclamation of waste dump areas. We spent a lot of money on water treatment management and general environmental management around the site. We have a total staff of 87 people in the environmental section. Do you also involve the local community and NGOs in the program?

Certainly. We have a number of programs with the community. One of them is a turtle conservation program that has produced a lot of data on the turtle population throughout the region.

We are starting a program known as "Reef Ball" to put in place an artificial matrix for reefs to grow in areas that have previously been destroyed.

Another is our mangrove rehabilitation program. In January this year, we planted 12,000 mangroves in neighboring Benete bay. We are planing to work with community and local NGOs to identify areas where mangroves have been cut down for firewood or other purposes and to try to replant these areas. Do you have a system to accommodate community complaints?

We have seven community relations offices in villages in which people can come and discuss their concerns about our operations without them needing to come to our mine site office. Community concerns are registered and dealt with accordingly. Issues raised by communities through our community relations offices will be followed up to seek solutions. How do you handle complaints about diseases that are allegedly caused by your mining operation?

We have a dedicated public health team that has a doctor and other medical staff to provide services for the community in areas of malaria control, TB control and other diseases.

Recently, we dealt with a health issue raised by the community of Tongo, which complained about skin problems. We then worked with the Department of Health and investigated the issue. We discovered that they suffered mainly from allergies and other general skin problems not specifically caused by our operation. We also gave them assistance with medication. Do you also have a rehabilitation program for when the mine is nearing the end of operations?

Absolutely. It is a Newmont requirement; we have already produced a closure plan for the site.

We practice concurrent reclamation, which means that waste tips are reclaimed as they develop. When we get to actual closure -- when the mine is no longer economic and has to close -- there will remain only essential infrastructure, mainly the processing areas that need to be reclaimed. What is your budget for reclamation? In 2002, the total estimated closure cost was $122 million. We are also required by the government to have a reclamation guarantee amounting to $2 million per year.