By JANE COUNSELNew cyanide spill blow to miners
Thursday, March 23, 2000
The Australian mining industry's overseas reputation has been further tainted by the second cyanide spill in as many months after Dome Resources revealed an accident near its operations in Papua New Guinea.Dome was yesterday continuing efforts to recover a tonne of deadly cyanide pellets accidentally dropped from a helicopter, as authorities warned it could poison nearby rivers.
The company was forced to mount an urgent search for the cyanide, which was lost in rugged terrain about 85 kilometres north of Port Moresby as it was being transported to the Tolukuma gold mine.
Although Dome said contamination from the spill appeared to be contained to an area of just 1,250 square metres, PNG's National Disaster and Emergency Service warned local villagers not to drink from nearby rivers or creeks.
"If the drum has fallen into a river and it is broken, people using this water are likely to die - they cannot survive," said University of PNG chemical expert Professor Kirpal Singh.
The incident follows the cyanide-poisoning of rivers in central Europe by a Romanian mine half-owned by Perth-based Esmeralda Exploration.
But Dome has claimed that its cyanide spill was not close to any areas of habitation, gardens or village water sources.
"We have moved swiftly with the recovery and are confident that any imminent danger to humans is being contained and that any effect on the environment will be minimised," Dome's managing director, Mr Michael Silver, said.
The spill has added another blemish to the already damaged mining record of Australian companies in PNG.
The country's main river system, the Fly River, has already been seriously contaminated by waste tailings from the Ok Tedi copper mine, operated by Australian mining giant BHP.
Greenpeace's campaigns manager, Mr Benedict Southworth, said that "despite promises of best-practice management, Australian companies operating overseas are failing to stop extremely toxic and dangerous chemicals entering the environment".