Ok Tedi Mining (OTML), owner of the Ok Tedi open-pit copper-gold-silver operation in Papua New Guinea (PNG), recently marked World Environment Day with the planting of more than 1,000 trees in two locations near its mine.

On 5 June, following the day’s theme Ecosystem Restoration, the company planted in Tabubil and at its Bige mine waste management site about 80 kilometres downriver from its mining operation.

The Bige project, the producer said, has been an underscoring of its commitment to ecosystem rehabilitation and restoration that sees impact from mining. Created in 1997, it is one of the company’s mitigation measures to reduce environmental impacts.

“The dredge removes at least 10 million cubic metres of sand annually, which reduces riverbed levels and prevents overbank flooding and forest dieback from occurring,” Ok Tedi said.

“The dredged sand is hydraulically placed in engineered stockpiles on the east and west banks at Bige covering an area of 1000 ha of land that had been impacted by dieback in the mid-1990s. Since the commencement of the dredge operations, over 200 million cubic metres of material have been dredged from the lower Ok Tedi river.”

OTML Environment Department Manager Jesse Pile added: “After more than two decades of dredging, at a cost of US$55 million per annum, the riverbed levels have reduced by two to four metres in the lower Ok Tedi, and have stabilised, including in the Middle Fly region.”

The Ok Tedi mine, located at Mt. Fabian, mines about 50,000 tonnes of ore daily.

Source: Ok Tedi Mining