PORGERA JOINT VENTURE
Location
Porgera, Enga Province.
Latitude 5°28'5.49"S Longitude 143°6'22.93"E
Status
Operating Mine
Type of Mine and Waste Disposal
Open-pit and underground. Porgera Jopint Venture (PJV) is principally a 2,255 hectares open pit, sulphide and cyanide leach gold mine about 600 kilometers northwest of Port Moresby. Porgera started life in 1990 as an underground operation but today includes both underground and open pit mining. Tailings have been released into the Porgera-Stickland River System since 1992. In addition to the tailings disposal there is substantial runoff from the stockpiles, which further increases the sediment load of the river system. In 1999, PJV estimated this to be 10-15 million tonnes per year. This river system flows into the Fly River joining up with tailings from the Ok Tedi mine. The Fly River flows into the Gulf of Papua. The mine is expected to be in production at least until 2013 but there are reserves for mining to continue until 2020.
Target Minerals
Gold
Current Production
561,022 ounces (15,904,714 grams) for the calendar year 2007.
Past Production
Average annual production 1990-2007 878,351 ounces (24,900,856 grams).
Ownership and Finanace
Barrick Gold became owner operator of the PJV in 2006, when Barrick Gold acquired Placer Dome in a $10.4 billion takeover. Barrick Gold is a Canadian mining company listed on the stock exchanges of Toronto and New York and is the world's largest gold mining company. Porgera is one of the largest private contributors to the PNG economy. On average, Porgera has contributed 14% of PNG’s national exports earnings each year of production. Ownership currently is Barrick Gold Corporation (95%) and the Government of PNG (5%).
Environmental Setting
The mine site is located in the Porgera Valley, in the highlands of Enga Province at high altitude (2 200-2 700 metres) above sea level, in steep and rugged mountainous terrain covered by rainforest. The area is subject to high rainfall and seismic activity.
Environmental Impacts
The 18 years of riverine tailings disposal (RTD) from Porgera have created a large mass of earth, heavy metals and chemicals in the Strickland River system. According to a report published by the CSIRO in 1996 the presence of heavy metals and chemicals in the upper and lower regions of the river are increasing to levels that will have severe and long term impacts on the river ecosystem. Tailings from PJV include Arsenic, Cadmium, Chromium, Copper, Iron, Lead, Mercury, Nickel, Silver, Zinc and three forms of cyanide- total cyanide CAC, weak acid dissociable cyanide WAD and Thiocyanate. According to a survey from 2001 the mine waste from Porgera has significantly elevated concentrations of mercury. High mercury concentrations in the entire river system and in the Lake Murray area is not only an important environmental problem, but also a major health issue for local people.
The CSIRO reported that fish populations in the river have been declining since 1993, one year after RTD commenced from the PJV. The CSIRO also expressed concerns on human health impacts from ingesting heavy metals through food chain, and from other human contact with heavy metals and chemicals from the mine and in the tailings. The most serious and long-lasting environmental impact seems to be related to the accumulation of arsenic and heavy metals in the sediment in the Lower Strickland River and Lake Murray. The CSIRO report from 1996 warned against the risk of heavy metals producing long-term and negative environmental and health effects.
Social Impacts:
In 2000, Porgera had an estimated population of 10 000 Ipili (the original local landowners) and 12 000 migrants, people who have immigrated to the valley after the mining operations started. The population has probably increased in the last years, mostly by people who have been attracted by business and employment opportunities in the area. Impacts of RTD have included loss of agricultural land and food security there are health issues from metal uptake into the food chain, decline in fish stocks.
Lake Murray is downstream from PJV and, with a surface area of about 647 km2 is the largest lake in Papua New Guinea. The main water flow is from tributaries flowing into the north of the lake and the lake usually drains via the Herbert River in the south which then flows into the Strickland River. However, under certain hydrological conditions, such as flooding, the water flow from the Herbert River may reverse, resulting in water entering Lake Murray from the Strickland River. Flow reversal events vary in duration from a few hours to two weeks. This exposes Lake Murray to riverine tailings from the Porgera mine. Particulate mercury can be converted, or methylated, by micro-organisms into methylmercury, a fat-soluble substance that is absorbed by plants and animals. Local communities around the lake have some of the highest recorded concentrations of mercury for people not occupationally exposed to mercury. This is attributed to consumption of locally-caught fish, which has naturally high mercury concentrations, often exceeding the World Health Organisation’s recommended limit. However, mercury concentrations in sediments from the southern end of the lake were elevated compared to the northern and central part of the lake suggesting that tailings are contributing to already high mercury levels. This demonstrates that the natural background levels of mercury are high, but also that the lake’s ecosystem is vulnerable to mercury pollution. In an aquatic system with already naturally elevated mercury concentrations any further anthropogenic supplement of mercury to the system is unfavourable and should be avoided.
It has been reported that alluvial mining by locals is a public health issues, with young children buying mercury from the local store to mine for gold; there has been no public health education about the risks of handling mercury. The ‘illegal’ alluvial mining by locals has been a catalyst for tensions between PJV and the local community
The landowners of Porgera have been poorly compensated through payment for use of the land. The Akalia Tange Association (ATA) is a local Indigenous community organisation advocating against the human rights abuses from PJV. The ATA have defended locals who have been involved in attacks on PJV’s security force since 2002. Production at the mine was suspended or reduced numerous times in 2002 due to suspected acts of vandalism in which power poles were damaged. PJV employed a small army of 400 security guards to protect its assets. Clashes between dissatisfied locals and security often end in sever injury and death. Before Barrick’s takeover of PJV, Placer admitted to 8 killings though the media reported upwards of 29 in 2005, since then there have been, and continue to, be many more allegations of killings and sexual assault by the security force on local Porgerans. In 2006, there was a PNG government investigation but the findings have not been publicly released. There have also been cases of reported accidental death associated with the mine, from people falling into the open pit, from land and rockslides and drowning in tailings during floods.
It has come to a point where the Ipili of Porgera have become somewhat dependant on the mine, as traditional way of life is no longer possible due to the state of the local environment. Porgerans are not happy with the way the mine is operating; the impacts on the community, the unequal share of profits, the deterioration of the environment and peoples homes, the rapes and killings. The Ipili are also nervous about what rehabilitation and compensation Porgera will be left with when the mine closes