Ramu NiCo has initiated a series of environmental awareness activities recently, aiming to make the nearby villagers fully apprehend the advantages of deep-sea tailing placement (DSTP) technology, as well as to clear their misunderstanding of recent slurry spillage and relieve their concerns about coastal fish safety.
Company HSE Department and Community Affairs Department collaborated and invited the officers from CEPA, MRA, Department of Fisheries and Marine Resources, Madang Provincial Government to form a joint awareness team to establish in-depth talks and communications with villagers, and understand their opinions and appeals directly.
On the morning of November 12th, the team went by dinghy to Lamtub village, a coastal village about 15km away from the Refinery. Villagers from nearby Bang village also attended the awareness activity.
The topics to be covered in the awareness include the DSTP operation status comprising of the operational process as well as the controls and management of the discharge. Similar awareness had been conducted in the areas covering parts of Bogia, Sumkar, Madang and Rai Coast districts of the province.
Government officials explained the advantages of DSTP, and emphasized that the August spillage had no impact on seawater and coastal fishes were safe and edible. Villagers smiled and applauded from time to time.
CEPA Manager, Robert Sine said that the environmental awareness is to conform to better educate the locals to know and understand the ultimate science and technology involved in the DSTP and the continuous efforts that the Company and CEPA made towards monitoring and managing the discharge of tailings from the operation.
Mr. Sine added that awareness would also clarify that the incident of the slurry spill into Basamuk Bay on August 24th, 2019 is purely accidental and a totally different issue altogether from the tailings which are managed through the DSTP.
Towards the end of the activity, some villagers expressed that refinery was a major client of coastal fishermen and they hoped they could go out for fishing earlier. The awareness team, especially government representatives expressed the same concern for people’s livelihood.
After the activity, villagers cooked two fish caught on the same morning and shared with the team to thank the team for their hard-work for clearing the air.
Through this awareness, the company has gained understanding and support from the communities. Ramu NiCo will maintain close dialogue and cooperation with all stakeholders as the Company always advocates, so as to promote and protect the interests of project impacted communities.
Community environment awareness
Local men showing fresh skipjack tuna before BBQ at Lamtub