Buyat Bay on the Island of Sulawesi, Indonesia, is perhaps best known as the place where Canadian mining giant Newmont dumped tailing from a gold mine allegedly polluting the bay and poisioning the local villagers.
Increasingly it appears the poisonings were a fabrication. I summarized the allegations brought against the company’s President Richard Ness and against the mining company in a recent piece for On Line Opinion entitled ‘The Campaign Against Mining’.
A little blue fish swimming in Buyat Bay.
Several senior mining executives were thrown in jail, accused of deliberately poisoning the bay. Once out of jail one of them set about photographing the corals and associated biodiversity of Buyat Bay. A book in Indonesian was published earlier in the year. Now there is an english version and Richard Ness’s son has had it uploaded to his website.
Here’s a note from Eric:
“A book entitled An Underwater Guide To Buyat Bay and Surrounding Areas North Sulawesi was just published by the South Minahasa & North Sulawesi Tourism Office. I got permission to post the entire book on the site. I would like to invite you to take a look at this because one, the photography is extremely beautiful showing a wide variety of marine life and two, I see this as additional evidence of how ridiculous the charges are against my father.
This book was written by Jerry Kojansow, David Sompie, Laurentius Th. X Lalamentik, Msc and Djonline Emor, Msi. The beautiful photographs where provided by Jerry Kojansow and Robert Humberson.
The irony in this is that two of the authors, David Sompie and Jerry Konjansow – who I have partly dedicated this web site to – were two of Dad’s staff who were declared suspects and spent 32 day unjustly detained early on in the same cells with terrorist involved in the Australian Embassy bombing. Even after such treatment, these fine individuals still performed their civic duty (in collaboration with dedicated people from the marine department of the local University and the provincial government) doing their part in promoting tourism and sharing the natural beauty of Northern Sulawesi and Buyat Bay for all the world to see. They did not do so for money or personal fame, they did so to try and correct the damaged image caused by baseless allegations of pollution in what is truly a non-polluted pristine marine environment. It is the image of North Sulawesi that they are trying to preserve.
Check out the book: http://richardness.org/media/buyatbay/”
The photographs are spectacular. Once uploaded you can ‘turn the page’ by clicking on the top right corner of the image. Click here to get started.
Richard Ness was in court again yesterday. But I’ve no news as to how it all went. A final judgement is expected in January.
Jennifer Marohasy BSc PhD is a critical thinker with expertise in the scientific method.
Yum. Wanna go there. Wonderful photos, brilliant presentation technology. Is this the future for tourist brochures?
What a great book and set of photographs of a bay “poisoned by tailings”. It gives a real truth to “Seeing is Believing”. The flash book appears to be terrific software for this type of publication.
Well, after three days and only two comments, that tells a tale.
Pinxi said there were lots of environmentalists concerned about humanitarian issues and the freaks simply are not lining up.
If environmentalists were jealous of their reputation about humans living harmoniously with nature, they would be outraged about the treatment Richard Ness is receiving and would not only denounce, but distance themselves, from this foul perversion of justice.
Pinxi is now refuted. Greenies are now exposed for what they are.
Well, I must admit when I first saw the picture of the blue chromos I wondered how it was that taking some pictures of wildlife in a bay could actually be accepted by the skeptics on here as refutation of poisoning by mine tailings? I am still wondering/bewildered?
If this is the extent of the skeptical assessment of an issue, then some here really are as blinkered in outlook as the rabid greenies they see behind every decision against a mining companies actions.
But for my own satisfaction lets go over the issue again so I can read the same shallow, knee jerk responses to what is a complex situation.
Firstly, as I posted elsewhere on this same issue, the mine would have received a licence for disposal of tailings which sets out the acceptable level of contamination.
This would govern the volume of material, the location/s where it would be dumped, the size and characteristics of the mixing zone, the level of water quality monitoring required, actions to be taken in response to exceeding set limits on contaminants and so on.
Now as long as the mining company stays inside its licence agreement in respect of the mine tailings and monitoring then it has no legal case to answer. If the conditions of the licence were outside the general limits of acceptable pollution set by Indonesian legislation then the fault lies not with the company, but with the government officials who approved the licence….unless of course it can be shown they were bribed by the mining company.
If the licence conditions are legal, but such that the dumping of tailings has poisoned local people, then who is culpable? The buck has to stop in the first instance with the Government of Indonesia, unless it can be shown that there was collusion between company and government officials to knowingly bring people into harm for profit by not following the regulatory framework of assessment- is that what happened?
Enter the greenies and their stirring up of emotions among the locals with claims of poisoning, and now the case is before an Indonesian court. If, as is claimed the company has breached its licence obligations, then they are guilty of failing to obey Indonesian law.
If we assume that the courts are not fair, that they are as easily manipulated as the other departments within the Indonesian government then who is in the best position to do the manipulating, a bunch of greenies dependent on charity for most of their funds, or a mining company?
As for the photos.
1. There is no proof the material photographed actually came from the Bay….these organisms are widespread throughout the Indo-West Pacific region. We have only the company employees word for it, so in my view it would have been better to get an independent assessment done.
2. Some of the species, such as the blue chromos ( a very pretty little fish) are found even in very badly polluted areas.
3. Bioaccumulation of trace metals in organisms like fishes usually does not lead to wholesale deaths with organisms floating belly up. There is a gradual accumulation as contamination is concentrated up the food chain, and ultimately top predators like humans end up ingesting the highest concentrations.
4. We have no idea whether the photos, if taken within the bay, were taken near the dumping grounds, or within the area where material from the dumping grounds might move to under various conditions of tide and current.
Before I am labelled as an irresponsible greenie let me state that I have read the results of the greenies and other tests and find them to be full of flaws and on the basis of that information the Indonesian government would be justified in concluding the mining company had no case to answer.
However, the fact the government pressed ahead with a prosecution shows that either they have reasonable grounds of belief that the company did breach its licence conditions, or they are trying to deflect public criticism of the governments role in approving a set of licence conditions that endangered the local people.
I have worked with many Indonesian government officials over the years and the notion that they might be influenced by the green movement in their decision making is risible.
However, they are much more likely to be influenced by the payment of bribes to smooth an otherwise difficult approval process for a mine. I cannot recall too many mining companies complaining about that in the past.
In conclusion let me suggest that the one essential element in the skeptics toolkit when approaching any issue……is an open mind.
After reading many of the posts on a variety of issues on this website over the last few months it seems to be the vital prerequise many of the posters here lack.
Thanks Russell, sensible comment.
Enjoyed Russell’s comments and as one of the photographers who took the pictures of Buyat and surrounding areas I welcome all who would like to dive there and see for themselves. Both Jerry and I are proud Newmont employees, but we are also avid divers and photographers. Neither of us would work for a company that destroys the underwater world. The photos are from Buyat and the surrounding areas as identified in the book. We took great care to insure that the photos were both from the area and relatively recent. They are definitely not from 82 meters deep, the depth of tails placement – that is beyond my dive capabilities and also that of reef fishes. They are from the bay wherein the tails are located and from surrounding areas.
I have dove at many places around the world and this area can be included as having some of the most outstanding diving around. My only regret is that the area is hard to get to and takes planning to properly dive. The blue chromos can be found in many areas, however, the types and extensive growth of corals in the area are partial proof of the cleanliness of the bay (Full proof takes a lot of science – that is also available). Many of these corals have almost no resistance to pollution and survive there because the water is clean.
As Russell points out there is plenty of reason to be skeptical of what the Government charges are about. The Government’s position is way past weak. Thinking people should also question NMR’s position. However, for those really interested in checking things out, don’t listen to anti-mining groups, NMR or the government, check out CSIRO’s research, the Minamata Institute’s research, research over years by the University of Sam Ratulangi at Manado and that done by many others. Surprisingly, the Government’s own research shows that the water and fish meets standards and that there is no link between NMR’s operatins and health issues in the local community.
In the meantime, I highly recommend the area for diving enthusiasts. Take your camera!
It’s amazing.. stunning and exciting myself to see each of the underwater picture. Unbelievable if there was a rumor which is totally different with the fact. Nature tell the truth! Continue on your diving adventures. I love it!
I am under-informed concerning the entire Newmont debate in North Sulawesi, and as I now live in Manado as a permanent resident and am interested in North Sulawesi’s environmental challenges, I am just now beginning to take the steps necessary to educate myself as to major issues involved.
I was able to obtain a copy of the recently published book on diving in Teluk Buyat & Totok at a celebration of Manado’s 384th birthday in the city’s convention center. On its face, it is certainly an uplifting document if only to realize that the coral reefs of the Buyat-Totok area are apparently so healthy. Certainly the area should be included in a larger marine reserve as is the case with Bunaken and the islands surrounding it. The next step is to actually visit the Buyat area and investigate the marine environment myself.
Sometimes fresh eyes spot the most glaring concerns in such a case as the Buyat saga presents. Hopefully I have done so. I have two nagging questions that maybe someone can address.
Firstly, in terms of dealing with the disposing of mine tailings, was Newman’s only viable option to dump tons of excavated earth into the waters off of Buyat Bay vis-a-vis a pipe? Isn’t this practice forbidden in most developed countries and for good reason? It is hard to imagine that there wouldn’t be some form of environmental damage in consequence, whether heavy metals were present in the tailings or not.
Secondly, why would a significant number of Buyat villagers pick up lock-stock-and-barrel and move from their village due to ill-effects of health? Is Newman contending scare tactics prompted these villagers to relocate or that the diseases were imagines, or that the origins of said illnesses had its pathology rooted in some other environmental factor unrelated to mercury and arsenic poisoning? It is unusual for Indonesians to abandon their houses and land, even in the face of impending catastrophes. Witness villager’s steadfastness in the face of volcanoes threatening to erupt in Central Java and the like.
I would appreciate someone providing information that would help to clear the air on these key issues.
you should be ashamed of yourself for putting these kinds of mistruths out – even if it is some personal blog. the abuses by mining companies around the world, and most especially in third world nations, is well documented. This incident in Bayat Bay seems to be no exception. It’s very easy for some free market ideologue, with their own privileged lifestyle, to pontificate about how poor nations and communities should allow their resources to be exploitated for nothing more than a polluted community and some temporary jobs. If you would ever have visited such communities and talked to people who have been through similar ideals, I imagine you would find quite a contrasting picture.