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TROUBLED WATERS<br />
AUgA RivER, pApUA nEW gUinEA<br />
sinCe 1995, Petromin<br />
Holdings (and previously Dome<br />
Resources, DRD Gold, and<br />
Emperor Mines) has dumped<br />
over 160,000 tonnes of tailings<br />
per year into Iwu Creek at<br />
the Tolukuma gold mine. The Creek flows into<br />
the Auga River, which is also being impacted<br />
by the erosion of the mine’s land-based waste<br />
rock dumps. Studies have found high mercury<br />
concentrations in fish that is attributed to the<br />
tailings. People living along the Auga River have<br />
reported that fish populations are devastated<br />
and the river is loaded with heavy sediment<br />
and difficult to cross. They have also indicated<br />
concerns over health conditions and unexplained<br />
deaths possibly attributable to contamination. 102<br />
18<br />
Although the national government of Papua<br />
New Guinea owns Petromin, the Central<br />
Provincial government has sought to stop<br />
the mine’s operations in legal filings. After<br />
contaminated water apparently sickened several<br />
people in 2009, the Member of Parliament<br />
from the area called on the company to stop<br />
mining until tailings dams were put in place. 103<br />
Community members have protested the mining<br />
operations and criticized the mine for a major<br />
cyanide spill that was caused by a helicopter<br />
dropping cyanide into a river, diesel fuel spills,<br />
unfair wages and worker conditions, and other<br />
negative social impacts. 104<br />
ABOvE: Community members living near Tolukuma mine; Papua<br />
New Guinean girl urging coral reef protection.<br />
PHOTO: OXFAM AUSTRALIA
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