Aurora guarantees no mercury pollution caused by its subsidiaries' operation

Australia-based mining firm Aurora Gold said on Tuesday its gold mining subsidiaries in North Sulawesi would dispose tailings into the sea in their operations but it guaranteed that the sub-marine tailing disposal would not cause mercury pollution in the area.

Joe Ariti, Aurora's chief operating officer in Indonesia, told Petromindo.com in a recent interview Aurora ruled out the option of placing the tailings of its subsidiaries PT Meares Soputan Mining and PT Tambang Tondano Nusa Jaya on land, saying the plan to dump the tailings into the sea was the best alternative for the future operations of both subsidiaries.

"The idea of leaving the tailing impounded on land in Northern Sulawesi is not a good one. North Sulawesi has a very high seismic zone and the very high rainfall of between 3 to 4 meters a year. When you mix those things, there is a potential disaster. When there is a seismic event, the dam (where the tailing is contained) could get waffled," said Ariti, who was accompanied by the company's government liaison manager Hidayat Soenarto.

Ariti said Aurora's subsidiaries would dump their tailings into 1.6-kilometer deep sea to minimize environmental impacts that might be caused by the tailings.

Ariti further said that the ore body of the gold reserves found by Aurora's subsidiaries in North Sulawesi is of the oxide type that contains no mercury

Earlier, Tempo Interaktif web-based news service reported the local government would review the company's plan to build marine dumping ground despite the fact that the company had received the permit from the government for the plan. The local government argued that the sub-marine tailing disposal system could cause environmental damage.

Meares Soputan Mining, which controls a 8,959-hectare mining concession in the province, has discovered gold reserves among others in the Toka Tindung area, while Tambang Tondano Nusa Jaya, which controls a 297.200-hectares concession, has discovered a high-grade gold reserve in the Talawaan area.

Meares Soputan Mining has started the construction of production facilities to develop the Toka Tindung gold reserve.

Ariti, however, stressed that Aurora would not resume the Toka Tindung project if thousands of illegal miners that are currently occupying its contract area in Talawaan were not cleared from the area.

"We really need strong signal of support from the provincial and the regional government before we consider developing the project. And that signal got to come from the clearance of illegal miners at the Talawaan," Ariti said.

The Talawaan reserve has a gold grade of between six to seven grams per ton, compared to the Toka Tindung reserve, which has a gold grade of four grams per ton.

Aurora Gold has invested a total of US$40 million since 1994, including $12 million for exploration in Talawaan (*)