Buyat Bay - Pollution

Pollution

In the mid 2004, local fishing community appealed the Indonesian government for independent research to investigate the level of Newmont's mining waste to Buyat Bay. Local fishermen witnessed of sudden increase in fish deaths, unusual swelling in the fish body, the loss of young milkfish and several fish species in the bay area. They also complained for unusual health problem including unexplained skin diseases, tremors, headaches, and unusual swellings on the neck, calves, wrist, buttocks and head. The research then found several heavy metals including arsenic, antimony, mercury and manganese distributions in the area with the peak density around the tailing ground.

In November 2004, WALHI (the Indonesian NGO for environmental issues) together with several non-profit groups (the Indonesian Mining Advocacy Network, the Earth Indonesia, and the Indonesian Center for Environmental Law) compiled a more comprehensive report on Buyat Bay condition, concluding that the bay is polluted by hazardous level of arsenic and mercury, and thus highly risk to the community. Arsenic pollution from the Buyat Bay seabed sediment samples revealed as high as 666 mg/kg arsenic level (hundred times than the ASEAN Marine Water Quality Criteria of only 50 mg/kg) and on average over 1000 µg/kg mercury level (the same standard defines 400 µg/kg level). Compared to natural control samples from sites not affected by mine waste dumping, the study also concluded that the arsenic and mercury levels were not natural and the only possible source comes from the Newmont's mine waste dumping. Mercury and arsenic accumulated in different living organisms in Buyat Bay including fish, consumed daily by the local people. Human health was at risk and the report recommended the fish consumption should be significantly reduced and the possibility of relocation of local people to other areas.

In 1994, Newmont's Environmental Impact Assessment stated a thermocline layer at 50–70 meters depth as a barrier to keep tailings from mixing and spreading in Buyat Bay. Despite of Newmont's claim, WALHI did not find the thermocline ocean layer.