MMJV admits "high" sediment in Watut River

By MALUM NALU

One of the joint venture partners in the just-commissioned Hidden Valley gold mine in Morobe province has admitted that there are “higher-than-expected” sediment levels in the Watut River.

South African company Harmony Gold Mining, through its chief executive officer Graham Briggs, made the announcement in a letter to stakeholders – published on its website (http://www.harmony.co.za/sd/message.asp) – on Tuesday this week.

Harmony CEO Graham Briggs

Briggs admitted that this was causing “serious concern within and outside the company” and a change in the course of a section of the lower Watut River, resulting in die-back of vegetation.

The admission came about as Morobe Mining Joint Ventures, made up of Harmony and Australian partner Newcrest, started paying compensation to affected villagers along the Watut River and as Bulolo MP Sam Basil called on villagers not to accept the payouts.

“The higher-than-expected sediment impacts in the Watut River in PNG have given rise to serious concern within and outside the company,” Briggs said.

“The mine’s environmental impact statement (EIS) predicted sediment loads in the Watut River during construction but, as it has taken longer than expected to reach hard rock at the mine which will be used to construct the interim waste dumps, the construction of stable waste dumps has been delayed resulting in a continued high sediment load in the Watut River.

“Construction of the interim waste dumps has been prioritised, with specific resources allocated to the project to ensure speedy progress.

“This will reduce the sediment load in the river, and allow the current sedimentation to flush out.

“In addition, mining activities which contributed to the increased sediment load have been stopped.

“The MMJV commissioned further impact assessments so that we could better understand the impact of these sediment loads on the river.

“These studies show that the increased sediment load in the Watut River (of which the mine is one source) has resulted in a change in the course of a section of the lower Watut River, and a die-back of vegetation in that area as a result of flooding.

“Although these changes in the river course occur naturally over time, the mine's contribution to the sediment load in the lower Watut River has speeded up this process.

“The MMJV has committed to expanding its monitoring programme to quantify the impacts coming from the mine and other sources, taking remedial action wherever possible, and working with the government to assess fair compensation for those affected.”

Hidden Valley mine was officially commissioned on Sept 29 by Governor General Sir Paulias Matane at a ceremony which also marked its opening.

The new gold project is a joint venture between South African miner Harmony Gold (70%) and Newcrest Mining Ltd (30%), the largest gold miner in Asia-Pacific.

MMJV plans to invest a total of K1.25 billion over a 10-year period, with the outlay to go towards wages and salaries (K800 million), royalty payments (K200m) and revenue for the provincial and national government (K250m).

The Hidden Valley mine is projected to produce an estimated 2.9 million ounces of gold.

MMJV: K2.6m compo for river villagers

By PATRICK TALU

THE Morobe Mining Joint Venture is paying a one-off ex gratia compensation payments of more than K2.6 million to people along the Watut River who are environmentally affected and displaced by the Hidden Valley mine, The National reports.

According to a statement released yesterday, payments began last week and is now into the second week.

The payments followed consultation and assessments conducted by Hidden Valley Mine Joint Venture (HVJV) through working with communities, local level and Morobe provincial government, representatives, the Mineral Resources Authority officers and other stakeholder groups.

Late last year, HVJV voluntarily committed to the communities along the Watut River to make this payment for damage to property and gardens of value throughout the river system.

The said damage could have been partly traceable to the Hidden Valley mine construction period.

Three teams comprising HVJV officers and the government, community and MRA along with witnesses provided by local community including the Union of Watut River communities began the task of assessments in the lower, middle and upper Watut last March.

Over the past several months, the teams have assessed more than 2,200 claims for individual compensation, with Upper and Lower Watut receiving their payments while Middle Watut payments are still being finalised.  

The payment exercise is expected to be completed by the end of next month.

According to the HVJV compensation procedure, assessments undertaken throughout the Watut River System include loss of gardens, crop trees with food or commercial value and infrastructure caused by possible increased sedimentation or over-bank flooding.

Speech by Bulolo MP Sam Basil on the occassion of the official opening of Hidden Valley gold mine

His Excellency Grand Chief Sir Paulias Matane - Governor General of PNG; Hon. John Pundari, Minister for Mining; Hon. Benny Allen, Minister for Environment; Hon. Sasa Zibe, Minister for Health; Hon. Luther Wenge, Governor for Morobe; Rex Mauri and Peter Askai representing the landowners; Mr. Graham Briggs, Harmony CEO; Mr. Ian Smith, Newcrest CEO;and all stake holders here today to witness this historical event the opening of this seventh mine in operation the Hidden Valley Mine, partially owned and operated by Harmony Gold of South Africa and Newcrest of Australia a recent marriage of two mining giants now operating in this region.

As the Mining Minister Hon. John Pundari has said last night in Port Moresby, the Somare/Polye Government supports this project and other such projects in the country which we all support.

I commend the government’s effort through its agencies, which have successfully facilitated the Hidden Valley mining development to this stage.

The hardworking landowners’ executives represented through Rex Mauri, Peter Askai, Ben Joseph and others through their tireless efforts have also contributed to this success and I commend them for that.

This project is new in Morobe province but not new to Bulolo district, because Bulolo has its place in the early record-breaking history of gold mining and aviation industry.

Many people including early miners, explorers and the locals (often referred to as natives) lost their lives all because of the gold rush era.

The early Wau/Bulolo goldfields was a forerunner of large mining which eventually saw the development of Bougainville, Ok Tedi, Porgera, Kutubu, Lihir and other mines established.

Papua New Guinea gained its independence in 1975 while some companies in Wau such as New Guinea Gold (NGG) and others slowly packed up and left.

Wau became a ghost town while Bulolo was a little lucky enough to have sustained itself through the pine plantation operations of PNG Forest Products.

PNG Forest Products employs locals while keeping the banking and postal services operational, but on many occasions, the two towns are always forgotten by successive governments through lack of maintaining law order support.

Sadly this situation still confronts us today.

My district has committed K2million for rural police by purchasing seven police vehicles and recruitment of 70 community police officers.

The Morobe provincial government has committed K500, 000 for the Mumeng police barracks while the national government has committed K7m for the Wau police barracks, but this is still not enough.

While the good Minister is present here today, I would like to stress further that more attention is needed from the government in the law and order sector for Bulolo district. The investors, their shareholders and the locals in this region demand a safe and sound environment to live and work in.

I am sure the government is concerned too and must live up to its commitments to facilitate such investment.

The Kumalu River still remains an obstacle to this mine and other businesses operating in this region despite numerous attempts to push a K27m bypass project.

There have been proposals to attract Public Investment Programme (PIP) funding. Numerous attempts were made in the past three years but were always overlooked by the government.

I now would like to acknowledge all stakeholders for the success of this project.

I, however, would like to remind all that along the way of progressing, some situations have been created and must be addressed by all concerned stakeholders.

As Rex Mauri has said last night in Port Moresby, everyone's concerns must be properly addressed and I share that concern too.

 I do represent this electorate in Parliament and every one’s concern will eventually become my concern too.

During the early stripping stages of Hidden Valley project up until now sedimentation has been a problem affecting the Latep/Leklu, Middle Watut and the Lower Watut areas,  destroying gardens, fertile soil, covering up drinking waters sources, diminishing of aquatic lives from the rivers such as prawns, eels and fish. Flash floods washing away footbridges and parts of Watut and Latep bridges.

The community affairs duplicate district programmes and operate independently without partnership from the district and local level government programs.

Local and Morobean businesses (non-land owners) have been overlooked by the MMJV

for businesses spin off activities while land owner companies have been forced to participate with other JVs instead of venturing on their own as 100% owners.

The Bulolo district itself, aside from the LLGs, has been overlooked when the distribution of royalties were negotiated in the early stages of their negotiations.

This saw my district and the Morobe provincial government entering into a separate memorandum of agreement (MOA) outside the MMJV-Project MOA.

This MOA between the district and the MPG was recently breached by the Honourable Governor of Morobe Hon. Luther Wenge as the chairman of the provincial executive council.

This mutual trust and understanding that we have established through the MOA is now in question.

I urge the Honourable Governor to honour our commitments and respect my district as the host district of this very important project, and furthermore, this arrangement must be also captured in the 2012 MOA review for the good of all.

May I remind all stake holders here today that the affected communities, local wards, local level government and the district government must have all their genuine concerns attended to in one way or other.

In saying this, I commend this project in my district and thank both Harmony Gold and Newcrest for having faith in this region and look forward for your continued support locally.

We will also stand behind the project which will be one of the seven revenue-generating mine projects of this young nation of ours as stated by the Mining Minister last night which we will all work together and support.

We all can hope that the remaining years of this mine can enrich especially the land owners, who gave up their gardening and hunting grounds for the development of this mine.

We can also hope that Wau, Bulolo and Mumeng township can be also transformed from the proceeds of this mine’s revenue and the district must be also recognised as an important partner in this project aside from the provincial and the local level government.