[Kabar-indonesia] DtE: Community Struggle Against Sulawesi Gold Mine Plans [+Buyat Bay; Rio Tinto]

[Joyo at aol.com]

Down to Earth -- the newsletter of the International
Campaign for Ecological Justice in Indonesia
Newsletter No. 70, August 2006 

Mining:

- Community struggle against gold mine plans
- No Newmont clean-up for Buyat Bay
- New lives for Buyat Bay families
- Rio Tinto in new Sulawesi nickel project
- Weda Bay nickel project sold to French company
- BHP-Billiton's Gag Island nickel development on hold

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Community struggle against gold mine plans

Plans for a new gold mine on the northern tip of North
Sulawesi are going ahead in the face of determined
opposition from local communities.

Meares Soputan Mining (MSM) began construction in
Rinondoran Bay even before public consultations over a
new environmental impact assessment (EIA) had taken
place.  MSM is the 85%-owned local vehicle of
Archipelago Resources, a company based in Perth,
Australia and registered on the UK's Alternative
Investment Market.

The plans are opposed by communities from the whole
area between Lembeh - Bitung, West and East Likupang
districts, and Manado, in North Sulawesi province.

Indonesia's environment minister, Rachmat Witoelar,
instructed PT Meares Soputan Mining late last year to
stop all activities as it did not possess a valid
environmental impact assessment as required by
Indonesian law. An EIA done seven years ago was
invalid due to social and environmental changes in the
area, known as Toka Tindung. 

----

Brutal attack by pro-company thugs

Participants in a peaceful protest involving 3,200
people from two regencies in North Sulawesi opposed to
the Toka Tindung Gold Mining project were attacked on
July 13th by a group known as Alliance Pro Investor
(AMPI) which had previously expressed their support
for the mining project. In the attack, professional
thugs believed to be acting in cooperation with mining
company workers ambushed the protestors, who were
travelling home along a dark stretch of road. They
bombarded the anti-mine protesters with rocks, then
moved in and beat them with iron bars and wooden clubs
studded with nails. In total 54 people were injured
including a pregnant woman who subsequently suffered a
miscarriage. Seven others were also seriously injured,
suffering head and eye wounds requiring medical
treatment. 

The attacking group is believed to have a close
relationship with gold mining company PT Meares
Soputan Mining. Police collected evidence and reports
on the identity of the attackers in the AMPI group,
and subsequently detained three suspects for
questioning, including one man understood to be a
worker at the mine project. The first that most local
people knew of the revision of the EIA was an
announcement in a local newspaper on 16th June giving
the general public 30 days to respond to the study.
The 'public consultation' required under the EIA
regulations was held by the mining company on July 4th
in Airmadidi, but only selected pro-mining community
leaders were invited to attend. This biased process
prompted protests by almost 100 members of the coastal
peoples alliance AMMALTA, who prevented the
hand-picked panel from entering the consultation. The
efforts by the mining company to manipulate the
legally required process were then exposed in the
local Manado media.

----

North Sulawesi's governor strongly opposes the MSM
mine and has written to the mining minister in Jakarta
demanding that construction is suspended until the
company has an approved EIA. Despite this and strong
local resistance, MSM has continued construction and
is bringing in heavy machinery as well parts of the
processing plant. 

The position of the head of North Minahasa district,
Vonny Panambunan, is less clear. Her office was
therefore one of the locations of a peaceful mass
demonstration organised by AMMALTA on July 13th,
involving more than 3,200 participants from coastal
communities. They demanded that politicians stand with
their constituency against the mine that endangers
their livelihoods, or otherwise step down from office.
The protest started at the Bitung Mayor's office,
proceeded via the district capital, Airmadidi, to
Manado, the provincial capital. The protest was widely
reported by the Indonesian media.

One reason for popular opposition to the project is
the plan to dispose of tailings (mine waste) into the
sea, which brings the risk of effects on human health
and environmental contamination due to heavy metals
and other chemicals contained in the tailings. The
controversial method of submarine waste disposal is
only used in Indonesia and Papua New Guinea, and is at
the centre of the conflict between Buyat Bay villagers
and US company Newmont (see next item).

The Toka Tindung mining plan threatens the livelihoods
of thousands of fishing families in the province and
also the provincial government's income from the
fishery sector, which amounts to an estimated IDR 500
to 900 billion per year1. Local businesses are not
supporting the plan either. "I understand the
necessity for business in the region, but this is a
get-rich-quick scheme, and the environmental
assessments for this mine are woefully inadequate",
chairman of North Sulawesi's Chamber of  Commerce,
Dino Vega, is reported as saying. "Unfortunately, the
mining concession was granted under a former regime.
We are hoping that we can alert the wider world to
this environmental disaster in the making," he said.
The provincial North Sulawesi Water sports Association
(NSWA) that represents investors in the tourism sector
also strongly opposes the mining project which they
fear will have a devastating effect on the flourishing
local tourism industry.

International conservation organisation WWF is
concerned that, in addition to polluting local waters,
tailings from the MSM mine will threaten Lembeh Strait
- the world-renowned dive area -  and Bunaken National
Marine Park. Ocean currents could drag waste toward
towards the reefs surrounding nearby small islands,
which contain a greater diversity of coral species
than Australia's Great Barrier Reef. 

Managing director of Archipelago, Australian
businessman Colin Loosemore, told the British
newspaper, the Daily Telegraph, that the mine would
operate to internationally recognised environmental
standards. "We are complying fully with local
regulatory practices," he said. "Our mine tailings
will be in the form of finely ground rock, which will
be deposited in a submarine trench on the other side
of Sulawesi (from Bunaken) between 1,000 and 2,000
metres deep, where they will sink."

Not only is this statement geographically inaccurate,
but evidence from the Newmont Minahasa gold mine -
also in North Sulawesi  - shows that strong ocean
currents, tropical storms and a tectonically unstable
sea bed will cause tailings dumped in the sea to
pollute surface waters and the marine food chain
instead of remaining inert on the deep ocean floor.  

The local communities are desperate to save their
environment and way of life. So far, they have funded
all their lobbying themselves through their
organisation, AMMALTA (The Alliance Against Mining
Waste), even though its members are mainly ordinary
farmers and fisherfolk (see DTE 68,
http://dte.gn.apc.org/68min.htm for a report on a
lobbying visit to Jakarta). This part of North
Sulawesi is closer to the Philippines than to Jakarta,
so it is expensive for them to get to decision-makers
in the capital. It is also difficult to organise
discussions, planning meetings and protests when
people live in dozens of small, dispersed communities
and have to work long hours to maintain their
livelihoods. 

Nevertheless, AMMALTA held peaceful protests in
Manado, Tomohon and the Toka Tindung area on June 5th
(Environment Day) and again on July 4th and July 13th
with hundreds of people from villages surrounding the
mine gathered in each location to draw attention to
their case. 

(Source: Daily Telegraph 6/May/06; information from
AMMALTA and local NGOs)

Note:
1.  North Sulawesi Central Bureau of Statistics.

How you can help: 

AMMALTA has established an excellent website at
http://www.save-lembeh.info including action alerts.
DTE suggests people write to the following Indonesian
authorities in support of local people's demands to
stop the MSM mine going ahead:

1.  Minister of Environment, Rahmat Witoelar 
    Office: Jl. D.I. Panjaitan, Kebon Nanas, Jakarta
13410
    Fax : +62 21 8580101
    Email : edukom at menlh.go.id, menlh at go.id

2.  Minister of Energy and Mining, Purnomo Yusgiantoro
    Fax : +62 21 8297642, 
    Email : info at mesdm.net, Info gsm at djmbp.esdm.go.id

3.  Minister of Marine and Fishery
    Fax : +62 21 3522059, +62 21 3004304034
    Email: enyharyani at dkp.go.id 
    bibindianti_dkp at yahoo.com

4.  Minister of Tourism and Culture
    Sapta Pesona Building
    Jl. Medan Merdeka Barat No. 17
    Jakarta 10110
    Tel. +62 21 383 8167
    Fax. +62 21 384 9715

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No Newmont clean-up for Buyat Bay

Reclamation activities in Sulawesi by Newmont Minahasa
Raya, the gold mining company majority-owned by
US-based Newmont Mining Corp, are not dealing with the
huge amounts of waste dumped in the sea.

Newmont Minahasa Raya (PT NMR) claims to have
completed 70% of its reclamation plan for the 200
hectare gold mine at Ratatotok in North Sulawesi. The
US-owned company aims to dismantle the processing unit
and other installations by September and to have
closed the mine completely by the end of the year. 

The 'reclamation' consists of landscaping the site,
replanting it and putting in drainage channels and
dams. A team made up of staff from the local
government forestry, environment and mining offices
makes three-monthly inspections to check that the work
is done in accordance with instructions from the
Energy and Mineral Resources department in Jakarta in
2002. 

NMR's publicity manager told local journalists that
NMR had spent US$15 million on mine reclamation so
far. He did not mention that NMR has no plans to
restore the marine environment in Buyat Bay where the
company dumped some 5.5 million tonnes of heavy metal
contaminated mining waste during its 8 years of
operations. 

Evidence gathered by Indonesian environmental groups
and the Indonesian government show that the STD
disposal method is the cause of increased levels of
heavy metals in marine sediments. Local people have
complained of health problems such as skin complaints
and loss of livelihoods due to fish kills since the
gold mine started operations in 1996. The company has
employed experts to refute these claims. 

As DTE went to press, the Indonesian government was
sure it would win its case against NMR for polluting
Buyat Bay in the Manado criminal court. NMR's
president director, Richard Ness faces a possible 15
year jail sentence if found guilty. "We're not
thinking of what we should do if we lose the case.
We're confident that we have enough evidence to prove
the company is harming the environment," said
environment ministry spokesman Hoetomo.

The environment ministry has not explained why it
agreed to a US$30 million out-of-court settlement to
end a similar case against Newmont in the civil court
in January 2006. 

(Sources: Republika 19/Jun/06; Jakarta Post 5/Jul/06)

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New lives for Buyat Bay families

In March, DTE interviewed Ibu Surtini, who had
relocated from Buyat Bay. 

Families who moved from Buyat Bay to escape the
impacts of the NMR gold mine have celebrated their
first year in their new location. 

Seventy families relocated to the village of Dumina
Nga, some 300 km to the west of Ratatotok towards
Gorontalo, on 25 June 2005.  Many were suffering from
a range of health problems attributed to pollution
from the mining waste. Another 18 families who were
not ill decided to remain in Buyat Bay. 

"When we first arrived, many of us were ill. We had
terrible headaches, itchy skin - all kinds of
problems, but now we are much healthier. Some people,
like me were taking 8 tablets a day for the first
three months but now we don't need to. Yes, we get the
occasional illness, but that's normal - not like
before," said Ibu Surtini from Buyat.

A number of agencies, including the national
environmental NGO WALHI, have raised funds to buy land
for a new settlement in Bolaang Uki sub-district. The
area looks very similar to their old home as it is on
the coast where mountains come down to the sea. The
potential for fishing is good and the land is suitable
for farming. The government had tried to make the
community move further east to Biniha, but they were
reluctant as the land was not good.   

So far only 20 houses have been built. These are
simple, 5m x 6m constructions  with a concrete floor,
wooden walls and thatched roofs, each set on a small
plot of land in blocks of ten. To avoid any
resentment, the families draw lots to decide who will
get a new house and who will stay in the barracks
until there is enough funding to build more.

Electricity is supplied by a generator at night and a
large river from the mountainside provides clean water
for drinking, washing and domestic needs.

The local community welcomed the people from Buyat and
has given them support during their first year. They
provided accommodation in their own homes for the
first week, supply them with staple foods like yams
and bananas and have been teaching them how to farm.
The Buyat community used to live mainly by fishing and
have brought their boats with them along the coast.
But fishing depends on a detailed understanding of
local currents, fish populations and the marine
environment, built up over years of experience, so
they cannot yet depend solely on their old way of
life. 

The Buyat people are now learning to grow nutmeg,
cloves, cocoa, beans, pepper and chillies, in addition
to the yams, bananas, maize and coconuts which used to
be their only crops. Several of the women are earning
money to buy rice and other basic commodities by
harvesting chillies and other crops for the villagers
until their own land is sufficiently productive. 

"We are still finding out how to make a living in this
new place," Ibu Surtini told DTE. "But it's better to
be healthy, even if life is hard. We could earn more
money in Buyat, but we were always ill there. All four
of my children are much healthier. The oldest are
going to school here and they are even talking with a
local accent!" she laughed. 

Individuals or agencies interested in funding more
homes for the Buyat community should contact the
Manado-based environment NGO, KELOLA:
kelola at manado.wasantara.net.id.

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Rio Tinto in new Sulawesi nickel project

A dramatic rise in the price of nickel is prompting
the development of a major new nickel mine in
Sulawesi. What will be the impacts for local people
and their environment? 

The Indonesian government and Anglo-Australian mining
multinational Rio Tinto are negotiating the terms of a
contract to develop the La Sampala nickel deposit on
the borders of Southeast and Central Sulawesi.
Spokesman for Rio Tinto in Indonesia, Anang R Noor,
said the company plans to invest US$1 billion in the
project. Exploration is due to continue and a
feasibility study to be carried out once the contract
is signed.

With this new investment, the company is expected to
produce 46,000 tonnes of nickel (over 101 million
pounds) and employ around 5,000 workers, according to
Rio Tinto's chief executive for copper and
exploration, Tom Albanese. 

La Sampala, according to the Indonesian news agency
Antara, contains two laterite nickel deposits covering
more than 60 square kilometres.

Indonesia's president Susilo Bambang Yudohoyono has
endorsed the project, saying it would create
employment, economic activity and would give Indonesia
'added value' - a reference to the fact that the
project may help attract other investors into the
country.

Rio Tinto stands to make large profits from this
venture: nickel prices have quadrupled since 2001
largely due to demand from Chinese steelmakers. The
company's own profits have increase eightfold in five
years.

The contract, which is expected to be awarded in
September this year, will require Rio Tinto not to
sell the mine before the production stage has been
reached, according to Mangantar S Marpaung, an
official at the Ministry of Energy and Mineral
Resources. He said the government's royalty would be
3% of sales. However, an official at Indonesia's
Investment Coordinating Board, Muhammad Lufti, said
Jakarta was promising tax breaks and 'smooth sailing'
through the bureaucracy to encourage Rio Tinto to
invest. In June, after meeting Rio Tinto executives,
he said the deal was 80% complete and his office was
working on sweeteners in the form of tax incentives.

The La Sampala deposit was identified by Rio Tinto as
a project with 'development potential' as early as
2000. The company was issued with a licence for survey
preparations in Southeast Sulawesi the year before
(see DTE 43, http://dte.gn.apc.org/43rio.htm). In its
2002 Annual Review, Rio Tinto reported that La
Sampala's potential nickel laterite resources amounted
to more than 370 million tonnes of material containing
1.3 per cent nickel and 0.1 per cent cobalt. An 'order
of magnitude' survey, to assess how much nickel can be
produced, was completed in 2005.

Poor record

What can communities living around the La Sampala
concession expect from this development? The company's
poor record on environment and human rights in
Indonesia and globally offers a bleak prospect.

Rio Tinto is well known in Indonesia for its
involvement in the West Papuan gold and copper mine
operated by Freeport - a project associated with
decades of serious social and environmental impacts,
plus human rights atrocities committed by military
guards (see DTE 69, http://dte.gn.apc.org/69fd4.htm
for recent 
reports). The company also runs the Kelian
gold mine in East Kalimantan, now in the closure
process. This is another project which has been
associated with forced relocation of local people,
human rights abuses and pollution. The company was
joint partner with BP in the giant Kaltim Prima coal
mine, East Kalimantan, before this was sold off to
Indonesian interests. Kaltim Prima was associated with
environmental degradation and labour disputes. A
Central Sulawesi gold mining concession held by Rio
Tinto (Poboya), for which the company denies any
immediate plans, has met with stiff resistance from
local people (see DTE 57:3,
http://dte.gn.apc.org/57Rio.htm and 56:14,
http://dte.gn.apc.org/56rio.htm for background.)

Existing nickel mining operations in Sulawesi hardly
offer any more encouragement: Decades of mining at PT
Inco Indonesia's Soroako mine in South Sulawesi have
brought hardship to local people through land loss,
inadequate or non-existent compensation, pollution and
environmental damage. Additional exploration in parts
of neighbouring Central Sulawesi threatens to
disadvantage local communities there. (See DTE 67,
http://dte.gn.apc.org/67mi4.htm for more background.)

-----------------------------------------------------------

Weda Bay nickel project sold to French company

A French mining firm, Eranet SA has said it will
invest US$1.5 billion in a nickel and cobalt  mining
project on Halmahera Island, North Maluku. Eranet took
over Canadian company Weda Bay Minerals in May this
year. NGOs have protested against the company's plans
to dump waste from the project into the sea - the
much-condemned method used by Newmont in its North
Sulawesi and Sumbawa Island gold and copper
operations.

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BHP-Billiton's Gag Island nickel development on hold

A huge nickel mining project on Gag Island, off West
Papua is still on hold. Australian-UK multinational
BHP-Billiton Gag Island told the Sydney Morning Herald
in April "We continue to consult with the local
community, local government and our Indonesian partner
as these studies progress…As we have said previously,
we will not use deep sea tailing placement and we will
not proceed with any development on Gag Island if it
is gazetted as a world heritage area." (SMH 1/Apr/06).


Both the Gag Island and Weda Bay nickel projects were
effectively excluded from mining in protected forests,
according to an Indonesian Constitutional Court
decision last year (see DTE 66,
http://dte.gn.apc.org/66min.htm). 

(Sources: Jakarta Post 20/Jun/06; Reuters 20/June/06;
Bloomberg via Joyo Indonesia News 7/Apr/06; AFX News
Ltd 20/Jun/06; Antara 5/Jul/06; Rio Tinto Annual
Reports on www.riotinto.com)

Note: the Indonesian version of Rio Tinto's statement
of business practice, The Way We Work (Cara Kita
Bekerja) is on the company's website at 
http://www.riotinto.com/library/reports/PDFs/corpPub_BusPract_Indonesia.pdf

Down to Earth 
The International Campaign for Ecological Justice in Indonesia
59 Athenlay Road, London SE15 3EN, England
Email: dte at gn.apc.org 

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Joyo Indonesia News Service
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