Richard Gleeson
Northern News Services

NNSL (Aug 16/99) - BHP's environmental reputation suffered a major setback last week when the company admitted it grossly underestimated the impacts of a mine it controls in New Guinea.

In an Aug. 11 statement, BHP said reports recently released by Ok Tedi Mining Ltd. "confirm that the environmental impact of the mine and the area of land affected would be significantly greater than indicated by previous studies."

BHP owns 52 per cent of the Ok Tedi Mining Ltd., owner of the copper mine, and manages the open pit operation, located in a Papua, New Guinea. Inmet, a Canadian-owned company, owns 18 per cent of the mine. The Ok Tedi mine has been operating since the early 1980s.

Inmet controls the Izok zinc and copper deposit just west of the Lupin mine. Establishing a mine at Izok is one of the key elements in a plan to establish a deep sea port at Bathurst Inlet.

The BHP news release went on to state, "The reports also show that none of the waste management options considered by OTML offer a clear solution to these environmental problems." The news release gave no information about the extent or nature of the environmental impact.

BHP's external affairs director, Graham Nicholls, said Ok Tedi is "one of the most difficult issues BHP is facing right now."

Nicholls said Ok Tedi was a very different mine than Ekati, operating in extremely different conditions.

Located in a mountainous tropical rainforest, the mine has been dumping tailings into the headwaters of the Ok Tedi River since it began operating. The river was to be protected by a tailings dam, but several attempts to build the dam have failed.

In early 1996, during the environmental review that preceded construction of the Ekati mine, the subject of Ok Tedi was introduced during discussions of the company's commitment to the environment and indigenous peoples.

"The purpose was to show what BHP had done in other parts of the world, to get some idea of what kind of company BHP was," said Chris O'Brien, then a board member of Ecology North.

The Dene Nation flew in Alex Maun, who lived downstream from the mine, to describe the harmful effects the project had had on the environment and those who relied on it for food.

Maun's statements were countered by Kipling Uiari, BHP's corporate manager for Papau, New Guinea.

"I hope that, should you visit the mine at some point in time in the future, you would agree with the observation of the Australian Minister of Aboriginal Affairs, who, after his visit in 1994, said he believed Ok Tedi was a model for Australian companies," Uiari told the panel overseeing the review.

BHP is now evaluating whether or not to maintain its interest in Ok Tedi, saying the mine "is not compatible with our environmental values and the company should never have become involved."