BHP says completes Ok Tedi mine withdrawal
Date: 11-Feb-02
Country: AUSTRALIA
"Recognising the mine will continue to operate, we have put in place a number of measures as part of our withdrawal to minimise future environmental impacts," BHP chief executive Paul Anderson said in a statement to the Australian Stock Exchange.
The Ok Tedi Mining Ltd fund will be 52 percent owned by the PNG Sustainable Development Programme Ltd, 30 percent owned by the PNG government and 18 percent owned by Inmet Mining Corp .
BHP Billiton had sought to close the Western Province mine rather than face further environmental litigation over mine waste polluting nearby rivers, but was opposed by minority partners Inmet and the Papua New Guinea government.
Regarded as a national asset by Papua New Guinea's Prime Minister Sir Mekere Morauta, the government feared closing the mine would devastate the national economy and ruin communities in the province bordering the Indonesian province of Irian Jaya.
The mine accounts for 10 percent of the impoverished South Pacific nation's gross nation product and 20 percent of total exports.
One of the richest in the southern hemisphere, the mine yields some 600,000 tonnes of high-grade copper concentrate a year and 15 tonnes of gold, with a loyal customer base in Asia and Europe. Reserves are sufficient to run the mine for at least another decade.
However, BHP Billiton wrote the mine off its books in the 2000/01 fiscal year and no longer includes the output in its production figures.
In 1996, the operating company of Ok Tedi, Ok Tedi Mining Ltd. (OTML) paid 150 million kina ($39 million) in compensation for damages to villagers whose livelihood relies on fishing the waters of the Ok Tedi and Fly rivers.
Shares in BHP were down 12 cents or one percent at A$11.53 shortly after releasing the statement.