Following completion of the Frieda River Project Environmental Impact (EIS) roadshows, the head of Governmentโs environment regulatory agency Mr. Jude Tukuliya has made a unique site visit on the borders of East Sepik and Sandaun Provinces.
Tukuliyaโs familiarization visit signals a close collaboration between Government Authorities and project proponents to enable the safe delivery of the mine and associated activities.
Mr. Tukuliya, who is acting Managing Director of the PNG Conservation and Environment Protection Authority (CEPA) said due diligence will take its course when deciding on an environment permit.
Lead project proponent PanAust representative Phil McCormack who had been on site for more than fifteen years expressed gratitude for Mr. Tukuliyaโs visit with his technical team describing it as first of its kind visit by a head CEPA.
Mr. Tukuliya says CEPA has concluded all activities in the environment impact statement (EIS) of the Frieda River project.
ย โCEPA must ensure that all the issues in relation to the Sepik River, the integrity of the integrated storage facility and of course all the unknowns identified during the review processes are assessed and screened properly before the environment council meets for the permitting process,โ he said.
JUDE TUKULIYA – PORT MORESBY
ย โCEPA has generally completed all the road shows and public consultations in the two project provinces (Sandaun and East Sepik),โ he said.
โConsultations with the provincial governments have all been completed and we also have received comments and feedbacks from other interested individuals and groups as well.
โThe last infrastructure consultations were conducted in July.
โThe independent peer review teams have in their reports, identified a number of important issues, particularly in terms of the damโs integrity and the stability. They have requested project proponent PanAust to test the core samples again in a different testing laboratory in Melbourne and that is still outstanding.
Mr. Tukuliya says generally both the East Sepik and Sandaun governments wish to see the project take off the ground โsooner than laterโ.
โHowever, their main concern is in relation to the safety of the Sepik River and the possible collapse of the integrated storage facility.
โThey recommended that the tailings be transported in a pipe-line to Sandaun to an identified bay and allow for DSTP (deep sea tailings placement). The current mine plan is not quite accepted.
Tukuliya says CEPA now is collating the reviews comments from the IPR teams and the feedbacks and reports received during the consultation process before presentation to the environment council for its deliberations.