Everything about The Ok Tedi Mine totally explained
The
Ok Tedi Mine is located near the headwaters of the
Ok Tedi River, in the
Star Mountains Rural LLG of the
North Fly District of the
Western Province of
Papua New Guinea.
The mine is operated by
Ok Tedi Mining Limited (OTML) which is majority owned by the PNG Sustainable Development Program Limited (PNGSDPL). Prior to 2002, it was majority owned by
BHP Billiton—the largest mining company in the world since a merger in 2001, with a market capitalization of over US$150Billion in 2007.
Located in a remote area of PNG, above on Mount Fubilan, in a region of high rainfall and frequent earthquakes, mine development posed serious challenges. The town of
Tabubil was built to serve the mining operation.
History
Mount Fubilan before mining operations was a copper mountain with a gold cap.
Exploratory drilling in the area began in the 1970s, and was run by the
Kennecott Copper Corporation.
In the early 80s, BHP Biliton secured a mining lease and in 1984, began exploiting a gold cap on the mountain using cyanide extraction procedures. After the gold deposit was depleted, a much larger copper deposit was targeted underneath. At that time, this deposit was believed to be the largest
copper deposit in the world. BHP entered into a partnership with the
Papua New Guinea government and a Canadian company,
Inmet Mining Corporation, to mine the copper deposit, although BHP maintained a majority share in the mine.
Around 20 years after the beginning of mining operations, majority share ownership turned into the hands of the PNG Sustainable Development Program, in the wake of the
Ok Tedi Environmental Disaster.
All mining operations at Fubilan have had their headquarters based at
Tabubil.
Infrastructure
As a substantial economic entity in Papua New Guinea and the Western Province, accounting for over half of the entire province's economy and 25.7% of the country's entire export earnings, the mine has been responsible for a large amount of the infrastructure.
The Mine
The mine works as an open cut operation. The mountain of Fubilan has been reduced to a deep pit in the ground.
By
31 December 2004, 8,896,577
tonnes of copper concentrate (containing 2,853,265 tonnes of copper metal and 7,035,477 ounces of gold metal) had been mined. In addition, between 1985 and 1990, 47.642 tonnes (1,680,553 ounces) of gold bullion was produced.
The Mill
There is a mill adjacent to the mine that transforms the raw material mined into copper concentrate slurry. The mill operates two ball mills and one sag mill. Copper concentrate is produced as slurry and piped 137km along the
Kiunga-Tabubil Highway to
Kiunga, the main port of the district, where it's shipped via river barge along the
Fly River.
Ok Menga
The mine is powered by a hydroelectric power facility at Ok Menga, which is a tributary of the
Ok Tedi river near Tabubil.
Kiunga-Tabubil Highway
The Kiunga-Tabubil Highway is maintained by
Ok Tedi Mining Limited, as the mine is the greatest beneficiary of the road. The highway, for the most part, runs parallel with the
Ok Tedi River. Parts of the highway are often consumed by the river and need to be rebuilt. The cost of maintaining this road is
K1.5 million a year. The copper
slurry pipeline to Kiunga from the mine runs along the full length of this road.
Tabubil
Tabubil is a township in the
North Fly District of
Western Province,
Papua New Guinea, about 20km south along the
Kiunga-Tabubil Highway from the minesite. The town, including the adjoining relocated village of Wangabin and the industrial area of Laytown, is the largest settlement in the province. Although the provincial capital,
Daru, is almost the same size.
The town was established primarily to serve the Ok Tedi Mine. The OTML headquarters are located in a building called the
White House, which is about 500 metres south of Tabubil International School, and about 300 metres west of the Cloudlands hotel.
The mine has a backup diesel generating power facility at Tabubil.
Kiunga
Kiunga is the port town that services the mine on the
Fly River. The township, which had a population of 8,300 in the year 2000 census, is the terminus of the
Kiunga-Tabubil Highway, and the copper concentrate slurry pipeline, about 140km by road from the minesite. The mine operators discharge 80 million tons of contaminated
tailings,
overburden and mine-induced erosion into the river system each year.
The discharge caused widespread and diverse harm, both environmentally and socially, to the 50,000 people who live in the 120 villages downstream of the mine. Chemicals from the tailings killed or contaminated fish, which subsequently caused harm to all animal species that live in the area as well as the indigenous people. The dumping changed the riverbed, causing a relatively deep and slow river to become shallower and develop rapids thereby disrupting indigenous transportation routes. Flooding caused by the raised riverbed left a thick layer of contaminated mud on the flood plain the plantations of taro, bananas and sago palm that are the staples of the local diet.
About 1300 square kilometers were damaged in this way. Although the concentration of copper in the water is about 30 times above the standard level, it's still below the
World Health Organisation (WHO) standards.
Further Information
Get more info on 'Ok Tedi Mine'.
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