Atlas of Contaminated Sites

Notable case, Tabubil, Western Province, Papua New Guinea

Ok Tedi mine and Fly River

An open-pit copper and gold mine on Mount Fubilan in Papua New Guinea that from 1984 discharged tailings and waste rock straight into the Ok Tedi River. The sediment raised the river beds for about a thousand kilometres and killed the forest on the floodplains.

Status
Not addressed
Area
158,800 ha on land1
Activity
since 1984
People affected
50,0002
Media
sediment, surface water, soil, living organisms
Kind of site
mining
  1. Area. 1,588 km² of dead or stressed forest documented along the rivers; the area may eventually reach 3,000 km². About 1,000 km of the Ok Tedi and Fly rivers affected (figures as given by Wikipedia, no year stated).
  2. People affected. About 50,000 people in 120 downstream villages (Wikipedia, no year stated).

Contaminants

Metals

Other inorganics

Status

Not addressed

The mine is operating, state-owned since 2013; its life was extended under agreements signed in 2012–2013 by 156 communities. The sources read do not give the present state of tailings discharge to the river; experts cited by Wikipedia expect the contamination to take about 300 years to clear.

Story

The mine, above 2,000 m in the Star Mountains, was developed in the 1980s with BHP as the main partner. In 1984 an earthquake brought down the tailings dam while it was still being built; the dam was not rebuilt and the mine went on working by discharging to the river. For more than ten years about 90 million tons a year of tailings, overburden and mine-induced erosion went in; in 2006 it was still 80 million. In all, between 1984 and 2013, about two billion tons.

The material filled the channels of the Ok Tedi and the Fly, and floods laid copper-bearing mud over the floodplains: about 1,300 km² of farmland damaged, fishing reduced, forest dead. Copper concentrations in the river were about 30 times the reference level. Some 50,000 people in 120 downstream villages are affected.

The Yonggom and lower Fly communities sued BHP in the 1990s; the out-of-court settlement, of 28.6 million dollars, also provided for a dredging operation. In 2002 BHP left the company, handing its share to the PNG Sustainable Development Program in exchange for legal indemnity. In 2013 the state took 100% of the mine.

Timeline

  1. 1984The half-built tailings dam collapses in an earthquake; direct discharge to the river begins.
  2. 1996Out-of-court settlement of 28.6 million dollars between BHP and downstream communities (Wikipedia says only "1990s"; the year needs checking).
  3. 2002BHP leaves the company; its share goes to the PNG Sustainable Development Program.
  4. 2013The state of Papua New Guinea takes 100% ownership of the mine.

Remediation

  1. —river dredgingDredging of the river, provided for in the 1990s settlement with the communities.

From the literature

Species that acted on one of this site's contaminants in at least one study. The list is automatic and takes no account of this site's soil, concentrations or climate.

Plants

Fungi

Sources

  1. Ok Tedi environmental disaster, Wikipedia, 2026
  2. Ok Tedi Mine, Wikipedia, 2026

Draft compiled from public sources, not yet reviewed.