West LB Pulls Out of Controversial Gold Mine
Heffa Schücking - urgewald
Tel(49)-160-96761436
Marianne Klute - Watch Indonesia
Tel: (49)-176-24526549
Heffa Schücking - urgewald
Tel(49)-160-96761436
Marianne Klute - Watch Indonesia
Tel: (49)-176-24526549
The Indonesian province of North Sulawesi is a biodiversity hotspot and
harbors some of the world's most spectacular nature areas. Northern
Sulawesi is also home to a series of gold de-posits, the largest of
which is known by the name of Toka Tindung.
Plans to establish gold mining operations here have met with widespread
resistance both from local inhabitants and the Provincial government,
who fear that the mines would disrupt the ecology and the econ-omy of
the region, which is based on fishing, agriculture and tourism.
The British-based mining company Archipelago Resources, which is
attempting to force the development of the Toka Tindung mine, recently
received a serious blow, when the German bank WestLB did not renew its
credit arrangements with the company. WestLB is one of four banks,
which had originally agreed to provide project financing for Toka
Tindung. The other banks involved are Australia's ANZ and Investec and
the French bank Société Générale. NGOs are now calling upon these banks
to follow suit and to pull out of the controversial project.
"We are amazed that WestLB held on to this project as long as they
did," says Heffa Schück-ing from the German NGO Urgewald. "Since 2005
the people of Northern Sulawesi Province have consistently demonstrated
and spoken out against the project and both the provincial parliament
and the Governor have given a clear "No" to Toka Tindung. This and the
fact, that the company pushed forward construction without obtaining
valid permits is a clear indica-tion, that Archipelago Resources is not
a company that banks should invest in," says Schücking.
Activists believe that their threat to launch a public campaign against
WestLB in Germany played a role in the bank's decision to finally
withdraw from the project. "Supporting a project, which local people
don't want and which will harm unique ecosystems, would have created a
lot of damage to WestLB's reputation," says Marianne Klute from Watch
Indonesia.
From the start, the gold mining project has been
contentious. In July 2006, the Indonesian Federal Environment Ministry
forbid Archipelago Resources' plan to dump tailings from the mine in
the ocean and the company thus put forward a plan to store tailings on
land. However, this solution is far from safe as the area is prone to
earthquakes and floods. The Governor of the Province, S.H. Sarundajang,
thus refused to grant a permit for the mine, which is located near the
Lembeh Strait, the Bunaken National Park and the the Tangkoko
Conservation Area. At a press conference in February 2007, Sarundajung
said that short-term extractive industries like gold mining don't fit
into the long-term sustainable development plans of this province and
stated, "I prefer to be a green governor rather than allowing the
destruction of our envi-ronment."
Archipelago Resources and
its Indonesian subsidiary have nonetheless moved forward with
construction, thereby enraging the local population and showing utter
disregard for the law. The company's security forces have time and
again attacked peaceful demonstrations by locals and there are many
accusations of corruption and unlawful intimidation against the firm.
Villagers claim that Archipelago Resources' illegal construction
activities have already resulted in unprecedented damage to the
environment. On March 11th 2007, 400 villagers of Rinondoran and
vicinity had to flee as their houses were buried under a 1.5 Meter
thick layer of mud. The avalanche turned the crystal clear water of
Rinondoran Bay into a stinky mud pool with hundreds of dead fish. The
villagers suspect that this was a man made environmental catastrophe,
caused by the construction activities of Archipelago Resources in the
hills above Rinondoran. The contract to construct the dumping ponds and
dams for the mine was granted to Bakrie constructions, which belongs to
the Indonesian minister Aburizal Bakrie. This is the same company that
is responsible for the mud volcano that has been flooding the region
Sidoarjo in East Java over the past months. Archipelago Resources,
however, denies any responsibility and speaks of a natural catastrophe.
"Archipelago Resources does not care about the law nor about
the people in our region," says Revoldi Koleangan of AMMALTA, the local
alliance of farming and fishing communities opposed to the project. "We
are therefore glad to see that the company is losing support from its
financial backers and hope that it will soon be forced to leave the
province entirely," he adds.