Grasberg-Mine

The Grasberg Mine is the largest gold mine, while the copper mine with the lowest production costs in the world. It lies in the belonging to Indonesia West Papua and is the central resource of Freeport McMoRan -. It is the largest source of wealth and also the largest long-term environmental destruction in West Papua and Indonesia. Critics of mine range from the Papuan indigenous people through NGOs, environmental and human rights groups to financially strong investors such as the Government Pension Fund of Norway.

  • 3.1 pollution

Location

The Grasberg mine is located in West New Guinea ( West Papua ), Indonesia, at the coordinates 4 ° 3 ' 10 "S, 137 ° 6' 57" E - 4.0527777777778137.11583333333Koordinaten: 4 ° 3 '10 " S, 137 ° 6 ' 57 "E in the Pacific Ring of Fire at 4,270 m altitude in the immediate vicinity of the maximum of the mountain of Oceania, the Carstensz pyramid ( Puncak Jaya ). The property is bounded to the east and north by the Lorentz National Park, to the south by the Arafura Sea. In the same geological fault as Grasberg mines are also the Ok Tedi, Lihir, Porgera and Panguna.

The rainfall in this region of tropical rainforest are extremely high: 4,000-5,000 mm annually in the mining complex and up to 11,000 mm in the lowlands. The rainy season lasts from September to May

History

Discovery

Was discovered the deposit in 1936 by the Dutch geologist Jean -Jacques Dozy, who explored oil wells for Shell to climb the peaks of the mountains Jayawijaya in trying. In 3700 meters he discovered in a mountain landscape from a light limestone about 130 feet high, striking black mountain in the form of a tooth from auriferous copper ore, which he called Erzberg ( Dutch " Ertsberg "). In an inaccessible mountain valley, 120 km from the coast, this was copper deposits as a " mountain of gold on the moon".

The Second World War came the records into oblivion, and only 20 years later, the report of the geologist Forbes Wilson was rediscovered. Wilson worked for Freeport and was really looking for nickel deposits. However, Forbes Wilson and Del Flint launched an expedition and discovered in 1960, the large copper deposits of the Ertsberges. The copper content was remarkable 2.5 percent with 0.75 grams of gold and 9 grams of silver per ton of ore total of 32 million tons were mined later.

Information

With permission from the Indonesian government for the mining of copper a mine was opened in 1973 in the mining industry. The built by the Bechtel 100 km long access road is a technological masterpiece, it was the most difficult project of the largest U.S. construction company. It was not until the Vietnam War had the helicopter technology ( Bell 204) that so far the mid-1960s that the project was technically possible. For construction of the road loggers were lowered through the treetops to beat clearings on which then small, broken down into individual parts bulldozers were sold to Befahrbarmachung of the jungle. Nevertheless crashed helicopter, and heavy machinery beneath the marshes. Two tunnels with a total length of 1,700 meters had to be built. Freeport was several times just before the task. The press called the project Freeport's "Mission Impossible", the impossible mission. Among the first customers of the ore concentrate was next to Japan also Aurubis AG (formerly North German Affinerie AG).

For the miners 10 km below the mine in 2062 meters above sea level, the city Tembagapura (Copper City) was built. Opened in 1995, the Suharto for $ 500 million in the jungle for 20,000 inhabitants built Kuala Kencana (Gold River ).

1988 began the dismantling of the already discovered by Dozy Grasberg deposit at 4270 meters altitude, two kilometers from the Ertsberg; more than a billion tons of ore containing 1 percent copper and 1.2 grams of gold per ton of ore Freeport has since been a mine of world class with the largest gold reserves in the world. The technical challenges were enormous again. The ore production increased steadily to 238,000 tonnes per day ( 2005). In addition to Chuquicamata Grasberg is one of the largest copper mines in the world.

Including non - metalliferous tailings over 700,000 tons of material to be moved daily. At this rate, the estimated 6.25 million tons of Cheops pyramid would be removed in nine days.

2005 brought pumped 660,000 tonnes of copper a 2.7 billion U.S. dollars. 79,000 kg of gold were funded $ 1,277,000,000. Of the total revenue thus accounted for two-thirds of the proceeds of copper and one-third to gold.

End of February 2006, several hundred Papua blocked the main entrance to the mine. They demanded permission to search the wastes. Indonesia's President Yudhoyono gave it out an instruction to send 300 police officers and a 700 -strong department of the Indonesian military TNI in the region.

Criticism

The Grasberg mine has been exposed to attacks by the liberation and independence movement Organisasi Papua Merdeka ( OPM) as the mine is one of the main sources of income in West Papua. Freeport is the largest taxpayer in Indonesia, but holds neither American nor to Indonesian environmental laws, but poisoned rivers and lakes right next to the Lorentz National Park. Neither in the first Mine Treaty of 1967 nor in the successor Treaties of 1991 and 1994, environmental regulations are included. For a long time there was no compensation for the traditional land owners, the tribes of the Amungme and Kamoro.

Payments to local Indonesian military that Freeport claims to have made for his safety, came in for criticism. Freeport is thereby brought into indirect relationship with the human rights violations of the TNI and Kopassus in West New Guinea.

Pollution

More than 238,000 tons of toxic tailings are transported daily by the rivers Aghawagon and Otomona and disposed of in the Ajkwa River as a huge Absinkweiher. Copper damages in particular aquatic species, it blocks biochemical processes of the gill respiration. Freeport holds an identification with the mine Ok Tedi in Papua New Guinea that has caused an environmental disaster are unfounded, since only 128 km river and 450 km were affected ² area, a dam was built, only 500 people had lived in the affected area and no cyanide is used for ore processing. The practice of river disposal (English " riverine disposal " ) is banned in the U.S. and other mining operated industrial countries because of their long-term environmental damage. Also in 2001, Indonesia has enacted such a ban. While in the false-color satellite image of Akjwa has the purple overburden staining only in some places, is seen off the plane only a single concrete - gray surface on which nothing grows. While Freeport operates pipelines for fuel and ore concentrate between the port and mine, it was because of landslide hazard is not possible to build a pipeline for the spoil, argues the company.

In addition to the overburden is Acid Mine Drainage (acid waste dump drainage ) the main environmental problem dar. the weathering of ores such as copper-containing chalcopyrite sulfur is oxidized to sulfuric acid. The Ertsberg Mine is a filled with copper-containing acidic, turquoise water Tagebaurestsee today. The weathering of the dumps is a legacy dar. Dirty was the Wanagan Lake of Amungme. Also in the Lorentz National Park groundwater contamination were measured.

The acidic waste dump runoff is exacerbated by practice of "high- grading ": Only the richest copper and gold contents are recycled. This reduces production costs and improves profit. Due to the exceptionally high metal content of the Grasberg ore also the residual content of copper, gold and acid -generating sulfide is particularly high.

Journalists and independent observers will not be allowed to mine and to the overburden disposal rivers. Therefore, there is no independent measurement values. One of Freeport study commissioned by 2002 will not be made ​​available to the public. Only the Indonesian Ministry of Environmental Protection shall have access to the concession area since 2005.

Because of the serious and irreversible environmental pollution, violation of international laws and Freeport's lack of transparency of the Government Pension Fund of Norway holds the ownership of Freeport shares in its portfolio since 2006 for ethically unacceptable. The same criticism had as early as 1994, the U.S. State Overseas Private Investment Corporation expressed and withdrew a hedge of $ 100 million. On 10 September 2008, the Norwegian Ministry of Finance announced shares worth 500 million pounds of the Rio Tinto Group, which holds a 40 percent stake in the operation of the mine to try to sell on pension plan for active participation in the pollution of the environment.

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