TOLUKUMA
Location
Goliala District, Central Province, 100 kilometres north of Port Moresby.
Latitude 8°34'11.96"S Longitude 147°8'22.38"E
Status
Operating Mine
Type of Mine
Underground and open-pit. Open-pit production began in 1995 and underground mining in mid-1997. The mine is a low capacity, high-grade operation and employs 630 people, including 130 contractors.
Target Minerals
Gold
Current Production
Gold production for the year ended June 30th2007 was 47,422 ounces (1,344,404 grams).
Past Production
Average annual gold production (2003-2008) was 63,949 ounces (1,812,934 grams). Silver was also produced.
Type of Mine and Waste Disposal
Tolukuma is a small mine about 100 kilometres north of the capital Port Moresby. Unlike most other mining operations Tolukuma is totally isolated and all access for supplies is by helicopter. There are eleven Exploration License Tenements and a Mining Lease (ML104) associated with Tolukuma. The ML104 covers an area of approximately 8km2whilst the eleven ELs cover over 8,000 km2and are located with a 40 minutes flying radius of the mine site. The Tolukuma Gold Mine discharges approximately between 230,000 tonnes 160,000 tonnes of mine waste annually into the Auga/Angabanga Rivers. In addition to the tailings discharge there is also substantial run-off from the waste dumps, a situation which contributes to the influx of sediments and heavy metals into the river.
Ownership and Finance
The mine has had series of owners since 1983. Former owners include Newmont Australia Ltd (1983-1993), Dome Resources (1993-1999) and DRD Gold Ltd which acquired Dome Resources in 2001 (1999-2006). In 2006, the mine was owned and operated by Australian-based Emperor Mines Ltd. Petromin PNG Holdings Ltd completed acquisition of the mine in February 2008 from Emperor Mines Ltd. Petromin PNG Holdings Ltd is owned is the Government of PNG (100%).
Environmental Setting
The mining lease is covered by largely intact rainforest and around 25 percent of which is considered ecologically fragile. The mining area is located at an altitude of 1,500-1,750 metres above sea level in steep mountainous terrain, hence the difficulty of road access. Close to the mine is the Auga River, a tributary of the Angabanga River. The Angabanga River reaches the sea some 100 kilometres from the mine.
Environmental Impacts
There have been a number of incidents or on-going environmental impacts from the Tolukuma mine. Oxfam Australia commissioned scientific tests and analyses of the water in the river system. They made several significant findings. Principally, the discharge of tailings from the mine is causing ongoing pollution of the Auga-Angabanga river system by sediment and toxicants including arsenic and various metals. In the whole Auga-Angabanga River system, from the mine to the sea, water quality is affected by heavy metals. The highest metal concentrations were found in the Auga River, the upper part of the system. However, although heavy metal concentrations decrease significantly downstream because of dilution from the many tributaries, the effects are also visible.
This pollution is the probable cause of major impacts on the ecology of the river system culminating in the death of most aquatic life in the Auga River. In the Angabanga River it is likely that fish and other aquatic organisms have been adversely affected through changes in species composition, population and damage to the whole river system’s spawning areas as far as the coast.
Sedimentation is also a problem. Increased river sedimentation and flow has been implicated in causing flash floods affecting food sources and crop growing areas. Sediment samples analysed in 2005 showed high levels of arsenic and mercury in particular, but also of lead. Arsenic and lead content is especially high in the Auga River and in the upper section of the Angabanga River. Mercury poses a problem in the river system as a whole.
As well as the systematic poisoning of the river system there are also isolated incidents that pose a risk to the ecology and local communities. A cyanide spill occurred in 2000 when a one-tonne bale of concentrated sodium cyanide pellets fell from a helicopter which was transporting it to the mine site. The cyanide pellets landed in rainforest within 20 metres of a stream. Dome Resources, an Australian company which then owned and operated the mine, claimed the cyanide pellets had been recovered and the site cleaned up. This was contradicted by the Mineral Policy Institute, Greenpeace Australia and local communities who visited the site soon after the accident. The contamination eventually took several months to clean up and meanwhile villagers downstream of the accident site had to be provided with alternative food and water supplies.
Social Impacts:
Four tribal groups live along the Auga and Angabanga Rivers. Some estimates put the total population of the river system at about 5,000 while others suggest that as many as 10,000-20,000 people have a traditional connection to the river system. Local communities are dependent on subsistence farming and fishing. Communities downstream depend on the river for drinking and washing, fishing and maintaining their vegetable gardens. Therefore, pollution of the Auga-Angabanga river system from riverine tailings disposal has deprived many people of a traditional source of drinking water, food resources and bathing and cultural sites. There are obvious impacts on lifestyle, culture and health.
Water from the Angabanga River at Gnagaifua and Oriropetana has been shown to contain lead, arsenic and mercury concentrations levels that are higher than the World Health Organisation’s (WHO) acceptable maxima. Also, water from some wells in the Mekeo villages of Inauauni, Amo Amo, Veifa'a and Aipeana contains arsenic at levels that are close to or higher than the WHO acceptable maximum levels.
There is evidence of a range of potential health and social problems related to the use of polluted water. Community members attribute illnesses and deaths to drinking and washing in the river. They report that fish have died, posing a threat to the community's food supply, and that changes in the river flow have led to flash flooding, making river crossings difficult and preventing access to market gardens. Women have been particularly affected because they are responsible for the collection of water for their families. Women from some villages along the Angabanga River now walk up to four hours a day to collect clean water from streams and wells. This has implications for their workloads and safety as they pass through land belonging to other villages. The limited availability of clean water also has severe implications for health and hygiene, especially of children. The loss of fish means that local people no longer have access to an important food and protein source. This has forced them to change their diet, which at present comprises mainly of vegetables and fruit, as there is little game in the area. Villagers also complain that the pollution has affected the fruit and vegetable crops along the Auga and Angabanga Rivers.