Ok Tedi Mine

In 1984 the Ok Tedi mine opened. This has caused major disaster in the Ok Tedi river system. Because the mine tailings (waste) are being discharged in the river, in fact over 80 million tones of tailings are discharged into the river each year.

 Chemicals from the tailing are contaminating water in the river system thus killing fish and making it unsuitable for indigenous famers to grow crops. Over the years the tailings that have been discharged into the river system has increased the water level which makes the risk of flooding higher. The reason flooding is an issue is because when the contaminated water from the Ok Tedi River is irrigated to water the crops, the soil becomes contaminated and the crops die there for the soil can’t be used.

The lifestyle of the indigenous people living near the mine has changed significantly ever since the opening of Ok Tedi mine. The opening of the mine has some benefits for the indigenous people because it brought new jobs. But because of the new jobs and a hospital the population of the indigenous people has doubled. All the contamination is killing the fish and the flooding is killing plantations of bananas, taro, and sago palm which makes up the local diet. So while the mine brought jobs it also brought hunger!

One way this problem could be improved is building a tailings dam to reduce the contamination in the river system. In the past this hasn’t worked due to landslides, to decrease this problem concrete barriers should be made to reduce the risk of landslides.

The Ok Tedi mine has improved some conditions for the indigenous people living on the river system. By giving jobs at the mine but this also is creating more problems for the environment.