Court lifts injunction on controversial DSTP

By JAYNE SAFIHAO, The National

The National Court in Madang last Friday lifted the interim injunction order of March 19 on the construction and operation of the deep sea tailings placements (DSTP) system at Ramu NiCo Basamuk refinery on Rai Coast, Madang.
The 4pm decision followed the morning’s ruling where Justice David Cannings granted leave to the three remaining plaintiffs Eddie Tarsie, Farina Siga and Peter Sel - to withdraw from the proceeding and refused the application by Louis Medaing, a land claimant in Basamuk, to join the proceeding.
Tiffany Nonggorr of Nonggorr William Lawyers on the same day filed a fresh application to challenge the DSTP programme in the name of Medaing against Ramu NiCo, along with a notice of motion seeking another “urgent” interim injunction.
Cannings said the new application would be dealt with on its merits.
Landowners from Basamuk and Rai Coast outside the court house welcomed the decision and thanked Tarsie, Siga and Sel for discontinuing the litigation which had cost Ramu NiCo a lot of money and had severely hampered the multi-billion kina project.
Landowner issues stemming from an inaction by the Lands Titles Commission, divisions among the clans, the question of whether the plaintiffs were intimidated, harassed and threatened or bought off leading to their withdrawal and the subsequent joinder application by Medaing were argued with intensity and at length during the week before Cannings made his ruling.
He said the effect of the interim injunction in March was made for good reasons, as demonstrated by the decisions of the Supreme Court in Ramu NiCo (MCC) Ltd vs Eddie Tarsie SCA 40/2010 on July 16.
“However, at all stages of the proceedings I have emphasised that the court was aware of the impact of its decisions and the court’s desire and the need to have the trial expedited. If Medaing were at this late stage to be joined as a plaintiff there would inevitably be a further delay.
“There would be further uncertainty as to the future of the project.
“There would not be in the public interest nor would it advance the interest of justice.”
Cannings said if Medaing wanted to start fresh proceedings, he was at liberty to do so, giving him seven days.
He ordered that leave was granted to Tarsie, Siga and Sel  to discontinue the proceedings provided that each of them file and serve a notice of discontinuance by today and that all parties bear their own costs of the entire proceedings.

Ramu tailings plan less risky

THE Ramu-nickel environmental plan was prepared by Natural Systems Research, a widely respected Australian environmental consultancy company with many years experience in the mining and natural resource sectors.
This environmental plan was based on a comprehensive range of terrestrial and marine field investigations and environmental studies carried out by Natural Systems Research’s consultants.
The Department of Environment and Conservation assessed the environmental plan in 1999.
As part of this assessment, DEC commissioned several independent peer reviews of the plan in areas in which they did not have the specialist expertise to conduct a diligent, critical and expert assessment of the environmental plan.
One of these areas was the assess-ment of the proposed deep-sea tailings placement system (DSTP). The DEC commissioned Dames and Moore, an international consultancy company with wide experience in the mining and waste management sectors, to carry out the independent assessment of the proposed DSTP system.
The recommendations of the Dames and Moore (1999) independent review were that the environmental risks associated with a marine mine tailings disposal system were acceptable and lower than a land-based tailings retention system.

Ramu safe: Pundari

Deep sea tailings plan least risky

ERIC TAPAKAU, Post Courier

THE development of a deep sea tailings placement system at Basamuk Bay is the least environmentally risky option for the disposal of mine tailings from the Ramu nickel mine, Mining Minister John Pundari said.
Mr Pundari said this after outlining numerous studies conducted by internationally reputable organisations into the proposed DSTP for the Ramu mine.
“The Government is confident that given this body of evidence, combined with the continuing efforts towards ensuring that the disposal of mine tailings from the Ramu nickel mine is done in an environmentally safe and socially responsible manner, DSTP system is the right approach and therefore refute the statements made in the media,” he said.
“The Government further believes that the environ-mentally responsible development of the Ramu Nickel Mine utilising DSTP technology offers the people of Rai Coast and the people of Madang Province an important opportunity to develop their communities and enjoy the economic benefits that large scale mining projects have brought to other parts of the country.”
He said it was unfortunate that such a volume of study and information was available even before 2003 when MCC first carried out its due diligence study before taking a decision to invest in PNG and it appeared that these studies (dating back to 1988 and beyond) were not an issue for contention until MCC’s involvement in the project.
“We must appreciate the financial risk undertaken by the Chinese enterprises to invest in PNG in a project that is technically difficult to develop when no other investor was willing to undertake the challenge,” he said.
“The Government wishes to stress to all stakeholders in the mining industry of Papua New Guinea that the National Government exercises a non-prejudicial policy towards all investors and will be fair to any investor as long as it is in accordance with the laws of Papua New Guinea.”
He said the Government of PNG also commended the outcome of the meeting between all the stake-holders that were present and duly represented at the consultation forum last week in Madang.
“The progressive efforts and understanding esta-blished so far is highly commendable and reflective of the genuine desire of all stakeholders to find an amicable and favourable solution to this unfortunate impasse over the last few weeks,” Mr Pundari said.

Pundari: Ramu tailings disposal effective

 

By PATRICK TALU, The National

THE government has maintained the disposal of mine tailings from the Ramu mickel mine is done in an “environmentally safe and socially responsible manner”.
Mining minister John Pundari, commenting on the outcome of a week-long stakeholders meeting in Madang on the deep-sea tailings placement system (DSTP), said it (the system) was the right approach.
In a statement yesterday, Pundari said the government was confident given the body of evidences from various environmental reports and assessment on the possible environmental impact assessment carried out by internationally reputable scientific organization.
He also noted the continuing efforts towards ensuring the proper disposal of tailings from the mine.
“We must appreciate the financial risk undertaken by the Chinese enterprises to invest in PNG in a project that is technically difficult to develop when no other investor was willing to undertake the challenge,” Pundari said.
He said the government further believed that the environmentally responsible development of the Ramu nickel mine using DSTP technology offered  the people of Rai Coast and the people of Madang an important opportunity to develop their communities and enjoy the economic benefits that large-scale mining projects had brought to other parts of the country.
“In parting, it is unfortunate that such a volume of study and information was available even before 2003 when MCC first carried out its due diligence study before taking a decision to invest in PNG,” Pundari said.
“It appears that these studies (dating back to 1988 and beyond) were not an issue for contention until MCC’s involvement in the project,” Pundari added.

Leaders maintain ‘no DSTP’ stand

VARIOUS landowner groups yesterday renewed their opposition that to the deep sea tailings placement (DSTP) system in Madang waters.
A group of disgruntled leaders met at the seafront of Coastwatchers Hotel as the Madang National Court was hearing an application by Ramu NiCo seeking a lifting of the interim injunction which had halted its construction of the DSTP system offshore facility at Basamuk Bay.
In a media statement, the group, backed by plaintiffs Farina Siga, Sama Melambo, Eddie Tarsie and Peter Sel, said that the simple message was “there will be no DSTP in Madang”.
“We call on Mining Minister John Pundari, who, a few days ago, visited Bongu village in Rai Coast and made an undertaking of ‘looking into things’ and who recently deviated from that speech, to stop drawing attention away from the real issue confronting us – listen to the people.”
Leader George Ireng said they were not against nickel mining or any other mining activity but wanted the government to find an alternate method of tailings disposal.
He said that DSTP was banned in other countries and PNG should follow suit.
The group noted the failure by the Lands Titles Commission to sit and identify genuine landowners along in the project impact areas.
Bagbag islander John Simoi said the Bismarck and Solomon seas were famous for their unique biodiversity and home to half of the world’s coral, leatherback turtles, various seagrass and tuna breeding ground in what is known as the Magado Square.