WESTERN Governor Taboi Awi Yoto has urged the Government to address the environmental impact of waste from the Porgera gold mine on communities in West Sepik, Hela and Western.
In Parliament on Friday, Yoto asked Mining Minister Solan Loifa whether the Government had any plan to conduct environment monitoring and rehabilitation impacts on the Porgera mine.
He said the mine should consider establishing a tailings storage facility upstream instead of continuing the riverine disposal system that carries mine waste through the Strickland and Fly rivers.
People living along the rivers, particularly in Western, experienced the greatest impact because of the province’s extensive floodplains and high water table.
If a tailings storage facility is not feasible, Yoto urged the Government to consider increasing compensation and benefit payments to affected landowners in the three provinces as the current compensation amounts are small.
North Fly MP James Donald, in a supplementary question, asked whether affected communities could be granted greater involvement through social licence arrangements and consultations to ensure their concerns were adequately represented in decisions relating to the mine’s operations and environmental impacts.
In response, Loifa advised Yoto and Donald to submit their questions in writing so that he could respond during the next sitting of Parliament.
