Antonia Staats – US-based gold mining enterprise Newmont, the world's biggest gold mining corporation, has been operating its Minahasa Raya mine in Northern Sulawesi, Indonesia, since 1996. The waste, a mix of ground rock and heavy metals that has been treated by a neutralisation process, is disposed of through a pipe at 82 metres depth into the ocean at Buyat Bay.
For years, villagers and NGOs have been complaining about the effects this waste disposal, also known as submarine tailings disposal (STD), is having on the health of maritime resources and local people alike. While a recent report by the World Health Organisation (WHO) found that mercury levels in individuals, water and fish samples near the mine were not unusual, other studies claim that arsenic and mercury deriving from mining activities have caused serious health problems among Buyat villagers. These substances can be used to separate gold from its environment, but are also found naturally in rock, from where they can be released by processing ore. In July 2004, following the death of a baby girl in Buyat Beach from a mysterious illness, the controversy around the "Buyat Case" heated up again. Local NGOs joined together to protest against Newmont and government bodies, resulting in both national and international media attention.
A baby's death
The shiny turquoise polyester spread on Masna's bed is very clean, it almost seems to glow from the darkened room like a faint effort to put some gloss in the house. She sits, her back against the wall, with her feet pulled below her body, rocking back and forth. In front of her: a pair of baby shoes, some rompers, two brown medicine bottles, one containing penicillin, the other vitamins. These items are all that remains of Masna's five months old daughter Andini.
It's the morning of July 3 2004, when the news of Andini's death reaches Kelola, the Indonesian NGO in Manado where I am working as an intern. "We're going to Buyat Beach. Do you want to come?" The atmosphere at the office is tense and busy, I am ushered towards one of the cars. Buyat is a small fishing village, situated about three hours south across Sulawesi's rugged northernmost peninsula. While Manado is bustling with tourists who come here in search of unspoilt reefs and deserted beaches on the islands off the coast, hardly anyone ever makes the journey to this area. Infrastructure is poor, the huts clustering along the many bays, connected by potholed roads and mostly without running water; despite their location have little of a guidebook tropical paradise. Most of the people living in Buyat and nearby Ratatotok depend on the sea for their income. The more fortunate work at Newmont Minahasa Raya (NMR), a nearby mine that is searching for gold.
Facts and factions
In 1996, Newmont Minahasa Raya started operating in the hills overlooking Buyat Bay. Goldmining is a rough business: Once a pit has been opened, rock is crushed and heavy metals like mercury employed to leach out gold ore. What does then happen to the remaining "soup" of ground rock and treated chemicals? In the case of NMR these tailings are disposed of through a pipe into Buyat Bay at a depth of 82 metres below the sea level.
The side effects were soon conspicuous. First, the fish started to disappear. Then villagers from Buyat Beach started to complain about health problems, ranging from headache and fevers to rashes and tumors. Newmont has sponsored a health centre and a police station in Ratatotok, a point it liked to highlight in half-page ads in the local newspapers when first facing accusations. Doctors at the health centre put the problems down to poor sanitation, while non-governmental organisations in the area claimed that people have been poisoned through the mining activities. Several studies have been conducted over the past years, supporting both scenarios. None of the research conducted has managed to bring about clarity or widely accepted results; on the contrary, the case has become increasingly politicized, with emotions on each side running high.
Andini's skin had been covered in a dry rash ever since she was born. Seven days before her death, she developed a fever. Masna took her to the health centre, where she was given penicillin and vitamins, as well as the promise that within three days, Andini would recover. Tragically, this turned out not to be the case.
Andini's death kicked off both national and some international media attention. Gruesome footage from Minamata, Japan, where in the 1950s hundreds of people died of mercury poisoning was played and replayed on the news. Countless NGOs used the media attention as a chance to promote their own causes. As Buyat villagers were brought into TV Studios to talk about their woes they often found themselves overwhelmed by presenters. Unsatisfied with the honest, indescript answers, the questioning became increasingly suggestive and it soon felt that the reality of the situation had been lost in the "story".
President Megawati Sukarnoputri, in the middle of an election campaign, at first refused to make any substantial comment on the topic. When Masna and three other Buyat Beach inhabitants were flown to Jakarta for further examination and to file a case against NMR, politicians were quick to point out that everything would be done to resolve the mystery of the case and that of course return tickets for the ill would be taken care of. The police in Minahasa district, after conducting their own study, eventually found NMR guilty of poisoning Buyat Bay and retained five of Newmont's employees – including one American and one Australian citizen – thereby creating something of a diplomatic issue. The US Embassy expressed its discomfort with these measures, warning that this move could further scare off badly-needed investors. Newmont, at the same time, has demanded the New York Times retract claims of a connection between Andini's death and Newont's STD practice. When I left Manado a month later, people in Buyat were beginning to tire of the case that didn't seem to move anywhere. They were, after all, the ones who had to get on with their lives.
Ultimately, I couldn't tell you what exactly is wrong with the water at Buyat Bay. It is true that in July there was no running water in Buyat Beach; water was taken from a nearby river, which is also used for sanitary purposes. It is also true that illegal private mining for gold takes place around Ratatotok and heavy metals from there may also seep directly into the water. On the other hand, Newmont does have a dubious social and environmental record, and is also facing charges at its mining sites in Nevada, Peru, Ghana and Turkey. Furthermore, it is certainly the case that the Indonesian provincial government has long been negligant of the problem.
Parading the ill
"It's true, sanitation here is not great. However, Buyat Beach is not special, I've seen other poor villages just like this one. People didn't have lumps and weird skin there." says Dr. Djamaludin, director of Kelola.
We are sitting on the front porch of Masna's house. No one has touched the tea that Andini's grandmother has prepared for us. No one mentions it but everyone knows – we're scared of the water. Children are still playing in the river and in the sea. How could you keep them from doing so, there's not much else to do in Buyat. In a sad and poignant parade, mothers bring out those children suffering from lumps or rashes for journalists to see. Pregnant women lean on their doors to watch – are they wondering whether or not their children will be alright? Hendri Lensun, Andini's father, picks up some invisible pebbles from her small grave next to the house. He chases away the chickens that are pecking around in the sandy earth. The three camera teams that have accompanied us ask Hendri to walk up to the grave again and again, until the shot is right. Every time his shoulders seem to sag a little lower.
If found guilty, this could cost Newmont a lot of money, not to mention adverse publicity. Charges of violating environmental regulations carry jail terms of up to 15 years when people are proven to have died or become seriously ill as well as a substantial fine. Further charges filed separately may add to the sum.
The Buyat issue is also of immense importance to the mining industry as it may set a precedent. Whatever the final outcome, the case is clearly an example of how little is known about the effect of dumping mining waste into the sea. Further south, on the island of Sumbawa, the Batu Hijau copper mine (owned 45% by Newmont Mining Corporation, 35% by Sumitomo Corporation from Japan and 20% by Pukuafu Indah from Indonesia) has been dumping as much as 120 000 tons of waste each day via STD into Senunu Bay since December 1999.
The practice of submarine tailings disposal is banned in most of the Western world.