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West Papua - Staple Damage

Source
Tempo Magazine - May 15-21, 2007

Pius Nimaepa inhaled his clove cigarette smoke deeply when Tempo visited him at the end of March. The 60-year-old Ayuka tribal chief sat cross-legged on a wooden chair under a tree in front of his house in Ayuka village, Mimika Timur Jauh district, Mimika regency, Papua.

Ayuka is located west of a stream where the tailings of mining operations by PT Freeport Indonesia (FI) are dumped. From Timika town, Ayuka is about 40 kilometers to the south. This village is inhabited by 66 families of the Kamoro ethnic group, owners of the communal land in the mining area. They live in two-room stone houses built with the aid of the American giant mining company.

Pius kept puffing away as he spoke. In a soft tone, the chief mumbled his complaint about the color of sago (Metroxylon sagu) now losing its pleasant taste. "Our sago is no longer white," lamented Pius. He pointed to the leaves of sago plants over an area 15-16 kilometers from Timika town, which are withering and falling with rotting stems. "The trees will perish," said Pius.

Pius knows the staple food very well. Before contamination, sago is clean white and will not decompose quickly when stored. On the other hand, decaying sago due to pollution, according to him, will develop black spots in storage.

The same is true of sago flour, which lasts only for a week at most. "It smells like sewage, tastes like marsh water," said Stevanus Nimaepa, Pius's son. Despite the unpleasant taste, noted Pius, Ayuka people continue to consume sago with no other food alternative. In order to obtain clean white sago, local residents have to go to a coastal area some 25-30 kilometers from Ayuka. "We want to eat rice but it's expensive," Stevanus added.

And it's more than just sago that goes bad. Duri fish as Ayuka villagers' favorite has also changed in shape and dies easily. The fish was originally fleshy. Now only its head grows big, with a small tail and a flavorless taste. "We get itchy all over when we eat it," claimed Stevanus, who no longer hunts boars and cassowaries. These animals are hard to find today.

Is it true that the tailings from FI's mining activities have pervaded and polluted the sago forest in Ayuka? FI has certainly denied this. According to Freeport, the inundation in the sago grove is due to downpours. "It's all because of the heavy rain rather than any breach of the dams [of tailing pools]. None of the dams has ever been breached," said FI Corporate Communications Manager, Mindo Pangaribuan.

Nonetheless, Mindo acknowledged his firm had examined the water in the location. "We once surveyed the area. It's true that the strong water current had caused the sago zone to be flooded. But it's not a tailing stream because the tailing river has been diverted to another place. It's a natural flow of sediments, a natural stream flowing from the north," explained Mindo.

According to Mindo, tailing deposits are channeled to an area shielded by western and eastern dykes. Therefore, according to him, the tailing definitely will not cause any harm to the plants in Ayuka. "So, if the sago becomes yellow or has an unpleasant taste, I have nothing to comment as I have no idea myself," he argued.

However, Mimika regency Secretary Wilhelmus Haurissa said FI had to be responsible for the environmental impact arising from its mining activities. "Freeport remains responsible for the environment," said Wilhelmus at the end of March.

FI has the right to deny the charges. But the fact was revealed by Commission VII of the House of Representatives (DPR) two years ago. People's sago plantations in the downstream area of Ajkwa River had turned into a "desert." Three major rivers in the FI operational zone were found by visiting legislators to have been polluted. At the time, the DPR urged that FI reduce its tailing capacity in Aghwagon River, Papua, which reached 250,000 tons daily. Based on the DPR monitoring, FI's tailings triggered increasing environmental damage.

The DPR study indicated that the ecological destruction in the zone was extensive. It covered the main rivers in Mimika regency: Aghwagon, Otomona, and Ajkwa, as far as the Arafura Sea around 80 miles away. The downstream part of Ajkwa River was converted into a waste dump or modification deposit. The tailings accumulated in a vast area, involving about 230 square kilometers (or a third of the Jakarta territory). It was the area where locals' sago estates were reportedly destroyed.

Destruction also affected the upstream area: Mount Yet Segel Ongop Segel (Grasberg), a sacred mountain of the Amungme tribe. It was already transformed into a lake owing to continuous dredging. A gigantic hole gaped with a depth of around 700 meters.

In the three main rivers, the water had dried up and the streams became tailing channels. Lake Wanagon, also an Amungme sacred place, was devastated. The Amungmes claimed FI had changed it into an acidic and toxic waste dump.

In 2000, a slide of the waste heaped up in Lake Wanagon was reported. Four workers of FI's subcontractor were said to have been killed. The capacity of Lake Wanagon perhaps could no longer support the huge quantity of mining waste.

The website of the Mining Advocacy Network (Jatam) referring to results of a Landsat-TM satellite imaging study in 2000 pointed out that FI tailings had contaminated a land area of 35,820 hectares. For this reason, in 2005, Commission VII of the DPR requested Freeport to lower its production capacity or review its tailing disposal system. It was proposed that the waste should not entirely be discarded into the three rivers. It should first be deposited in the upstream section before further channeling.

In certain proportions, the tailing from mining activities is not hazardous. By comparison, PT Newmont Minahasa with its 2,000 tons of daily tailings once triggered a public stir with the Buyat Bay pollution case. Meanwhile, FI produces 250,000 tons of tailing daily.

FI does have an environment impact analysis document on the disposal of its tailings. But the approval of this document could probably be very subjective. FI has also provided compensation for surrounding residents in connection with environmental damage. For instance, it guarantees clean water for people in the upper mining area. It has set aside 1 percent of its total production costs for local community development needs. The total fund for this purpose has reached 4 percent or US$660 million a year (around Rp2.5 trillion).

The role of FI in Indonesian government revenue is also quite significant. As proof, when FI's employees staged a rally and went on strike recently, Minister of Energy & Mineral Resources Purnomo warned against any production halt by FI. The reason being that any stoppages will considerably affect the government's income.

Freeport Indonesia is reportedly in control of the world's largest gold reserves and the third largest copper mine in the world. The economic value of these mineral deposits is estimated at US$40 billion, broken down into 25 billion pounds of copper, 40 million ounces of gold and 70 million ounces of silver.

[Tjahjono EP, FS.]

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