Environmental NGOs have called on the World Bank Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency to reject a proposed USD 207 million guarantee for Eramet France and Mitsubishi Corporation of Japan's PT Weda Bay Nickel JV project in Indonesia.
The Weda Bay deposit is one of the world's largest undeveloped nickel projects with 5.1 million tonnes of nickel contained in measured, indicated and inferred ore resources. Through PT Antam, the Indonesian government also holds a stake in the project.
PT Weda Bay Nickel is hoping to develop a nickel and cobalt mine and a hydrometallurgical processing plant in the North Maluku Province in eastern Indonesia. Exploration activities have already commenced and a small scale mine test pit has already been constructed.
The total area to be used for mining and processing for the first 30 years is estimated to be 2,650 hectares. The USS 4 billion project is expected to mine annually 66.5 million pounds of nickel and 2.9 million pounds of cobalt.
In a letter to the World Bank Board of Directors, a coalition of environmental special interest groups including Washington based EARTHWORKS, Mining Watch Canada and Indonesia's WALHI urged the board not to approve the guarantee application given the major social, environmental and political risks, as well as the fundamental procedural and technical flaws with the PT WBN.
Based on a preliminary study by water quality, geochemical and hydrological scientist Dr Robert Moran, who has also authored studies critical of the Pebble Mining Project in Alaska, the Rosia Montana gold project in Romania, and other mining projects the environmental groups said the mine is likely to adversely affect the ecosystems on the island of Halmahera.
The environmentalists claimed that "The project would destroy a large area of Protection Forest in a tropical biodiversity hotspot next to a national park. Sediment, large quantities of sulfuric acid, and mine waste would threaten massive contamination of streams, rivers, and the ocean in Weda Bay."
They added that "Such impacts are likely to occur in the exploration, feasibility, construction, operation, and closure phases of the mine."
The groups also expressed concerns a mining project would destroy the land of the Forest Tobelo Indigenous People and threaten the livelihoods of local communities.
(Sourced from www.mineweb.com)
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