By MALUM NALU
Morobe Mining Joint Ventures has denied any knowledge of the fish
deaths in the Markham River of Morobe province thid week.
This follows local villagers discovering dead fish and eels
floating on the Markham River and demanding an investigation from relevant
authorities.
Affected communities are from Wampit, Oomsis, Potsie, Markham
Bridge and three Labu villages.
David
Wissink, general manager - sustainability and external relations with MMJV,
said yesterday (Friday, Feb 17) that officers from Department of Environment and
Conservation and Mineral Resources Authority would visit the site today.
“It is not
known what has caused the fish deaths, however, such occurrences are a
well-documented phenomenon throughout the world and are usually caused by
depletion in dissolved oxygen in the water,” he said.
“The greatest impact on the river system in the area at the moment
is the Kumalu mudslide where cubic kilometres of sediment have entered the
river system due to the heavy rain.
“The Hidden Valley mine was alerted Wednesday (Feb 15) by locals
from Chiatz village near the confluence of the Watut and Markham Rivers of approximately
500 dead fish and prawns.
“This location is 162km downstream from the mine site.
“The Hidden Valley Joint Ventures environment
team has contacted the DEC about the incident but there is nothing that would
point to the mine’s involvement in this matter.
“The mine has agreed
to provide environmental support to help identify the cause.
“The quality of the
water discharged from the Hidden Valley mine operations is monitored on a daily
basis and is reported to the DEC weekly and monthly.
“There are no
abnormalities in the Hidden Valley water quality data as it is well within
compliance parameters.”
I can only hope the above is true but I am not convinced as I have evidence to prove that the contrary is true
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