Villagers offered payout over gold mine pollution

LIAM FOX, ABC

Sediment from a gold mine washing down a river in Papua New Guinea has destroyed the livelihoods of thousands of villagers. The Hidden Valley mine, which is half-owned by Melbourne-based Newcrest Mining and South African miner Harmony, is offering compensation to those affected. Some villagers are eager to take what is on offer, but others are not rushing to sign up.

Michael Ansu's life in the village of Witipos, next to the Watut River in PNG's Morobe province, began to change in 2006 - that's when Morobe Mining Joint Ventures (MMJV) began building its gold mine upriver.

Now, his livelihood is ruined.

"The sediment destroyed our garden, destroying our water, our drinking water. We have no fish in our water," he said. The silt choking the river has also crippled the important local industry of small-scale alluvial gold mining. Even the course of the Watut River has changed in places. MMJV accepts sediment washed by rain into the river during the mine's construction is at least partly to blame.

About $1 million have been put aside to compensate people in 30 affected villages.

MMJV community affairs manager Stanley Komunt says the runoff has been stopped.

He says 2,200 individual damages claims are being assessed and people will receive payments of between $200 and $3,000.

"Apart from the payments were are also looking at some community programs and we're looking at education, agriculture, infrastructure, alternative water supplies, I guess to put back the development in the villages," he said.

Mr Ansu does not know how much he will get, but says he needs the money urgently to feed his family.

"All the children along the river are going to die because of no food," he said.

LONG TERM DAMAGE

In Samsam village on the river's central reaches, Simon Iseve has also lost his food gardens and the ability to pan for gold. He does not believe the compensation on offer is enough. "It's long-term damage. There has been damage already and it's going to damage our lives. So long as MMJV work up there the damage will still continue like that," he said.

The local member of parliament, Sam Basil, also believes MMJV's offer is inadequate.

He is worried people who sign forms to receive compensation will be waiving their rights to sue the mine for more money.

"I've raised the matter with my lawyers and my lawyers have advised me that we should not be signing any statutory declaration forms because it may impede our future attempts to take the company to court," he said.

Mr Basil is also concerned sediment was not the only thing washed down the river.

"So we decided to go ahead and engage our own toxicologist to come in and find out the toxins in the river system," he said.

MMJV says only rocks and soil have been washed into the river and Mr Komunt says people are only being asked to sign statutory declarations to identify legitimate claimants.

He says its payments will be in line with the PNG valuer general's compensation schedules.

"It won't stop anyone later on or we're not waiving any rights at all. It's just for that purpose, to identify the rightful owners of the gardens," he said.

But Mr Basil says he plans to sue the mine on behalf of affected villagers.

Either way it will be some time before the lives of the people along the Watut River return to normal.