Landowners to rescue Solomon Islands mine – and perhaps more

The Gold Ridge gold mine in Solomon Islands has had a chequered history.

Catherine Wilson | The Interpreter | 21 December 2017

The dusty streets of Honiara are bustling. Once ravaged by militia fighting, 14 years of peacekeeping by the Regional Assistance Mission to Solomon Islands now sees men, women and children at markets, schools and shops, confident and free.

But the future of the vast archipelago of rainforest-covered islands to Australia’s northeast is still work in progress. Long term peace and stability after the ‘Tensions’ (1998-2003) depends on addressing the causes and grievances of the conflict, and making headway on equitable development for urban and rural islanders. According to the Pacific Islands Forum, hardship and unemployment remain high in the country and ‘strong resource-led growth is failing to trickle down to the disadvantaged’. 

Landowner grievances, compromised governance and acrimonious competition for land and resources were key triggers of the violence that erupted in Guadalcanal Province in the late 1990s. So tackling land disputes, corruption and management of the country’s natural resource wealth is at the core of ensuring sustainable peace.

Western province, Solomon Islands (Photo: Catherine Wilson)

Natural resource management will be in the spotlight after the government in Honiara recently identified the exploitation of mineral resources – still relatively under-developed in Solomon Islands – as one avenue to boosting post-conflict economic recovery. At the same time, plans are underway to reopen the Gold Ridge mine by the end of 2018.

The mine, a drive of less than an hour from Honiara across the flat, sun-baked Guadalcanal Plains, through farming villages and miles of oil palm plantations, has stood dormant for the past three years. The extraction of gold began here in 1998, but a succession of foreign owners and intermittent periods of closure due to civil unrest and environmental problems has left a troubled legacy.

In nearby villages there are diverse views on the mine’s future, but predominantly people want to see greater local ownership.

‘It [the mine] may open, but it needs to involve more people than before,’ said Stanley Holmes Vutiande. He lives in Navola village, just two kilometres from the mine. ‘More people need to raise their voices and their concerns be taken care of … we need to have the young people and the women come in to participate in deciding the future because the future belongs to them.’

The next phase of the mine’s life offers a window of potential. After Cyclone Ita and torrential rain damaged infrastructure and forced the mine to shutdown in 2014, its Australian owner, Santa Barbara, sold the venture and its legal liability a year later to Gold Ridge Community Investment Ltd, a local landowner company for AU$100.

Walton Naezon, chairman of the what is now a landowner-led joint venture, Gold Ridge Mining Ltd, is adamant that a more inclusive and visionary corporate structure is in the making. The aim is to embrace corporate responsibility through increased operational and environmental transparency. This will allow local participation in decisions and better relations and communication with stakeholders, especially communities.

Local landowners hold a 30% stake in the company, Naezon said, and representatives of communities surrounding the mine, where up to 5,000 people live, conduct environmental monitoring. Water samples are taken in nearby rivers and community monitors oversee the results. The representatives have participated in key company decisions, including the agreement outlining the benefits communities will receive from the mine. They have also joined in the appointment of an independent environmental consultant. Local students are invited to visit the tailings dam to learn about the water treatment process and witness the release of treated water.

Yet the story of the dramatic decline of the nation’s logging industry, which at one time accounted for 60% of export earnings, stands as a warning of the obstacles ahead. Half a century of rampant timber extraction saw in excess of four times the sustainable rate of 250,000 cubic metres per year. Transparency Solomon Islands has claimed it ‘regularly hears stories of politicians using their power to protect loggers, influencing police and giving tax exemptions to foreign businesses, in return loggers fund politicians’.

Logging on Kolombangara island, Solomons. (Photo: Catherine Wilson)

The reopening of the Gold Ridge mine is important for economic growth, said a spokesperson for the Ministry of Mines, Energy and Rural Electrification. A significant drop in national revenue followed the closure in 2014 and the start of two bauxite mines in West Rennell province the following year.

But the risks remain. Graham Baines pointed out in a paper published by the Australian National University that ‘should mining be forced while governance of the mineral sector remains weak and uncertain, corruption is rife and villagers are ill-informed and uncertain, the rural population could become a potent source of dissent and obstruction’. This was especially a danger in Melanesia, Baines said, where violence and mining seem to be partners.

Yet conflict is not the inevitable consequences of natural resource development in fragile settings. A recent report by Chatham House in London claims the outcomes depend on behaviour – by politicians, bureaucrats, companies and community representatives.

The Solomon Islands government has recently launched the National Minerals Policy (2017-2021), providing a legal framework for improving regulatory authority, industry scrutiny and revenue accountability. It also requires landowners and communities are party to consultations and can access legal advice. Awareness training is especially critical for those landowners who lack substantial understanding of the mining industry, their legal rights or the consequences of their decisions.

It is still early days. The government, working with the World Bank, is only beginning to implement the new policy. But the Gold Ridge mine will be a case to watch as not only Solomon Islands, but the Pacific islands region, grapples with how to take natural resource extraction out of the hands of elites and avoid the trap of conflict.

Can the Solomon Islands’ Gold Ridge Mine serve as a new model for resource extraction in the South Pacific?

The coastline view near the capital, Honiara. Photo by Paul Hilton/Greenpeace.

Catherine Wilson | Mongabay | 15 November 2017

• After 17 years of foreign ownership and a checkered environmental history, the Solomon Islands’ Gold Ridge mine is now being led by a local landowner-driven joint venture.
• The company saw its first major test in April 2016, when rainfall triggered a spillover from the mine’s tailing dam. However, independent tests found the water quality downstream remained safe.
• Though concerns still remain, the new ownership structure could be a model for mining operations elsewhere in the region.

In April 2016, thousands of villagers living in the vicinity of the Gold Ridge Mine in the southwest Pacific nation of the Solomon Islands braced themselves for a major disaster as torrential rainfall triggered a spillover of thousands of cubic meters of untreated water from the mine’s tailings dam.

The Ministry of Health issued instructions to people to cease using water from the nearby Kwara, Tinahula and Matepono rivers for drinking, washing or fishing, due to possible risk of chemical contamination.

The gold mine is situated on the country’s main island of Guadalcanal, 40 kilometers (25 miles) from the capital, Honiara.

Stanley Holmes Vutiande, who lives in Navola village, located along the Gold Ridge Road leading to the mine and 2 kilometers (1.2 miles) from the dam, remembered when it happened.

“We fled because there was water overflowing from the dam and we thought it might burst, so people just panicked and took off,” he recounted. “There was general information to look for safety, for higher ground, but no specific instructions as to what to do.”

Joe Horokou, the environment and conservation director at the Ministry of Environment, said the incident “was bad because it took us by surprise,” even though the company had been given approval to discharge tailings from the dam. “The approval was given with conditions like before it is discharged the water has to be treated to acceptable standards.”

Despite the dire warning, the expected disaster didn’t materialize. The dam held, and stakeholders, including Gold Ridge Mining and the ministries of environment and health, commissioned numerous independent tests of nearby rivers and streams.

“Based on the findings of those analyses we were able to determine that, even if the water was discharged untreated at the time, it caused no immediate harm to the downstream communities … the water quality was safe within the dam,” Horokou said.

Vutiande also said that, at the time, he noticed nothing of concern in the water quality of the Tinahula River near Navola.

A palm oil plantation in the Solomon Islands. The land used to be grassland and bush. Photo by Lorette Dorreboom/Greenpeace.

The incident was the first major test for the new landowner-led company, Gold Ridge Community Investment, which had taken ownership of the mine only the year before. After 17 years of foreign ownership and a checkered environmental history, the Gold Ridge mine is now being led by a local landowner-driven joint venture that is emerging as a potential new mine management model in the Pacific Islands region.

In 2015, Gold Ridge was sold for 100 million Australian dollars ($73.8 million at the time) to Gold Ridge Community Investment (now Gold Ridge Mining), by its Australian owner, St. Barbara. The company decided to abandon the mine, which contains an estimated 3.18 million ounces of gold, in the wake of extensive damage caused by Cyclone Ita and flooding the previous year.

The mine hasn’t been operational since, but following the signing of an agreement with Australia-based AXF Resources, which will provide the majority of investment, plans are now in place to resume extraction by the end of next year.

Walton Naezon, chairman of the landowner-led Gold Ridge Mining, said he is now keen to both reduce any risk the tailings facility poses to the surrounding environment and communities, and to increase public transparency of the company’s environmental processes. The top priority, he said, is dewatering, or emptying out the dam to ease pressure on its wall and decrease the chance of any further overflows.

Naezon spoke to Mongabay about implementing his vision of an extractive project where local communities are part of the corporate structure. About 3,000 to 5,000 people live in villages surrounding the mine, and traditional landowners own 30 percent of the company. They have already participated in making key decisions, such as the selection of an independent environmental consultant. They also observe operations at the tailings dam and take part in the company’s environmental testing and monitoring of nearby rivers and streams.

Larger than life in a blue Pacific print shirt, Naezon is bullish in his drive and optimism about the enterprise when we meet in a Honiara hotel. But he also comes across as astute, widely informed about the industry and its issues, and attuned to the sensibility and needs of his own people. No doubt this is a product of his previous career in politics, as well as skills and grasp of the cultural context as a traditional leader. He was minister of mining and energy from 1997 to 2001, minister for state government until 2003, and minister for commerce for another two years.

Naezon is visibly relaxed about the attention given the mining industry worldwide by what he refers to as the “greens” movement, commenting that it “makes the developer and company stronger.”

The revived Gold Ridge venture, at this stage, comes across as more than ticking the right boxes in order to be assessed a responsible corporate citizen. There is evidence of an attitudinal shift, a genuine motivation to alter the structure of power, participation and accountability.

The Gold Ridge Mine tailings dam in Guadalcanal Province, Solomon Islands. Photo by Catherine Wilson for Mongabay.

Community Involvement

As I stood in the water treatment plant at the edge of the vast blue expanse of the dam, reflecting the brilliant tropical sun, Gaheris Porowai, the supervisor, readily answered questions. He said that we were looking at 1 million to 2 million cubic meters (264 million to 528 million gallons) of water, with the water level currently 1.5 meters (5 feet) below the spillway. Treated water was being discharged, as permitted, at 500 cubic meters (132,086 gallons) per hour or 12,000 cubic meters (3.17 million gallons) per day, with water testing conducted twice weekly.

This will be done persistently, Naezon said, until the dam is empty.

“There should be no water there. In the next two years, no water, we don’t want to see water there,” Naezon said emphatically, adding that Golder Associates, the company responsible for the dam’s construction has also been reengaged to review its current state and potential future.

Phil Fairweather, Gold Ridge’s general manager, said that he and many other people had been attracted to the venture by the vision of building an enterprise on greater transparency, community inclusion and social and environmental sustainability.

“Any dewatering that is happening at the moment, for example, involves the communities,” Fairweather said. “It actually involves unqualified community people coming and observing the testing, coming and being involved in community awareness prior to any discharge and during.”

Local village chiefs, landowners and students are all invited to visit the tailings dam to learn about the water treatment process and witness its discharge.

“We want to see the mine open, but the health and safety and environmental responsibility is an utmost priority to us,” said Robert Rafaniello, the company’s deputy CEO. “And that is why as we lower the water, we will do more investigations into the stability of the dam, assess it. Does it need any strengthening to future-proof it for any other unknown event? Do we use the tailings dam in its current form, do we look at alternatives?”

Tropical forest, Vella Lavella, Solomon Islands. Forests cover more than three quarters of the country’s land area, but illegal logging remains a serious problem. Photo by Lorette Dorreboom/Greenpeace.

In hindsight, the lack of continuity in the mine’s foreign corporate ownership since the late 1990s — and intermittent periods of closure resulting in inconsistent environmental practices — can be seen as factors in the problems being experienced today.

The start of mining in 1998, by the Australian company Ross Mining, coincided with the stirrings of civil unrest. The mine was forced to close a mere two years later when the violence escalated. While a peace agreement was achieved in 2003, Gold Ridge didn’t reopen until 2010 after acquisition by Allied Gold. The venture changed hands again in 2012, this time to St. Barbara. Then, in April 2014, calamity struck when a cyclone and torrential rain caused massive flooding that damaged mine infrastructure, raising concerns about the stability of the tailings dam and forcing a second shutdown. Losses and damages at the mine amounted to $27.7 million, 26 percent of the total economic impact of the disaster on the country.

Soon after, St. Barbara decided to exit the country, selling the mine and its legal liability to Gold Ridge Community Investment the following year, while the Solomon Islands government declared the site a disaster zone.

A model for the region?

The Solomon Islands is not the only Pacific Island state to experience environmental problems in the mining industry.

Natural and mineral resource extraction has, over decades, generated major revenues in a number of other countries in the region, such as Papua New Guinea and Nauru, while many more are now considering the lucrative potential of deep-sea mineral extraction. But in both island states the extractive industries have been plagued by environmental disasters. Both have failed to achieve environmental sustainability, and the economic windfalls have not led to substantial improvements in human development.

Glaring examples include the Panguna copper mine in Bougainville, Papua New Guinea, where the fallout from the destruction of land and waterways nearly 30 years ago remains unaddressed; as well as the OK Tedi copper and gold mine in the country’s Western Province, where massive discharge of mine waste into local river systems since the mid-1980s decimated fish and animal species and contaminated water sources and farmland. In the tiny state of Nauru, aggressive phosphate extraction has ravaged 80 percent of the country’s landscape.

In the Solomon Islands, the government is looking to mining as the next big revenue earner as it faces the challenges of post-conflict economic recovery and the exhaustion of commercial forestry after decades of unsustainable logging. The country is known to have significant mineral resources, including gold, silver, nickel and lead.

“The Gold Ridge mine reopening is very important for the government and Solomon Islands as it contributes significantly to the economy,” a spokesperson for the Ministry of Mines, Energy and Rural Electrification told Mongabay.

Nevertheless, the economic, social and environmental success of mining ventures over the next generation depends on not repeating the problems of the past.

A 2013 UNDP symposium on managing extractive industries in Pacific Island states highlighted some of the steps needed to overcome the hurdles. These include conducting better consultations with stakeholders and communities, developing a more complex understanding of customary land tenure, improving the transparency of political processes and revenue management, and achieving greater commitment to environmental protection, over and above the basic requirement of developers producing environmental impact assessments.

Expert observers have also expressed concerns about the influence of corruption and limited capacity of the government to manage the demands of regulating and overseeing mining activities.

Logging road in a deforested area in Vangunu Island. Photo by Paul Hilton/Greenpeace.

“Too close an identification of political leaders with resource extraction companies has not served Solomon Islands well,” Graham Baines of the Bergen Pacific Studies Research Group has written (pdf). “The chance to build an economy based on sustainable timber production has been lost. And just as government institutions have been shown to be ineffective in controlling logging abuses, so, too, their role in guiding and controlling mining is weak and compromised.”

Recently the government has tried to address some of these issues with the launch of a new National Minerals Policy (2017-2021). It aims to guide reformed financial practices, industry oversight, and procedures for tailings management, corporate environmental audits, biodiversity management and the mitigation of deforestation and soil erosion.

“With the policy now launched, the ministry is working closely with the World Bank to begin implementing the policy, and this process is already under way, focusing mainly on the regulatory framework,” the Ministry of Mines spokesperson confirmed. This includes reviewing resource and manpower capacity and rolling out public outreach and awareness of the new policy.

Progress in these areas is vital to turning around the suspension of the Solomon Islands by the Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI), which in March of this year sanctioned the country due to assessed deficiencies in areas including licensing procedures, monitoring and control of production, and revenue distribution.

The revival of the Gold Ridge mine will bear witness to how much progress the government has been able to make in the short term.

In May, the government and company began consultations with landowners about the mine’s proposed reopening next year, seeking to address issues such as royalties and environmental impact.

There is evidence, though, that not everyone is satisfied and local environmental concerns persist.

Vutiande said that in Navola, “the water system was always a long-term concern since the opening [of the mine] by the previous companies. The water issue is an ongoing issue. There were a few times when there were people who found things that have died in the river, such as fish and frogs.”

Despite the company’s stated commitment to transparency, Gold Ridge Mining remains tight-lipped while it considers the range of options for dealing with mine waste. The decision as to whether the dam will continue to be used is still to be made, and the government is still awaiting the environmental management plan.

The contents of these will be the first step in translating the new Gold Ridge vision into reality and establishing, or debunking, its standing as a model for the rest of the region.

Gold Ridge to restart within 18 months

Solomon Star | 11 August 2017

AXF Gold Ridge Pty Ltd of Australia says it has secured additional investor funding to start the immediate recommissioning of the Gold Ridge Mine Project.

“This investment will see mine production on track to start within 18 months,” a statement issued by the company on Wednesday stated.

“In an unprecedented partnership arrangement, Gold Ridge Community Investment Ltd (GCIL), which comprised the local land owners, owns 10% of Gold Ridge Mining Limited,” the statement added.

AXF Gold Ridge holds the balance of 90%.

The statement said additional capital and technical expertise from the Hong Kong publicly listed new shareholder Wanguo International Mining Group strengthens AXF Gold Ridge.

“New capital will help the Gold Ridge Mine Project reach its full potential.

“Wanguo International Mining Group led by Mingqing Gao has provided technical expertise to the Gold Ridge Mine Project for the past year.

“The strength of the partnership between landowners and AXF Resources, combined with the support from the government, has given Wanguo the confidence to commit as an investor to this project.”

Gold Ridge Mine’s principal landowners and community leaders confirmed their continued full support and commitment to the project during consultation.

Landowners agreed that by working together, the recommissioned Gold Ridge Mine would achieve new heights (Yu mi tugeda bae mekem Gold Ridge mine waka gud).

Richard Gu, Managing Director of the AXF Group and Director of AXF Gold Ridge Pty Limited, said:

“I feel humbled and proud that the project has reached this stage.

“I look forward to a long and fruitful development partnership with Gold Ridge Mine landowners, our investor, and the people and government of the Solomon Islands”.

Senior executives from AXF Gold Ridge including Chairman-elect Mingqing Gao, Richard Gu, and Dr Shaun Ren visited the Solomon Islands this week to celebrate the milestone with landowners and government officials.

At a meeting with Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare, chairman-elect Mr Gao reinforced:

“The reopening of the Gold Ridge Mine will send a strong message to the investment community that the Solomon Islands is open for responsible and transparent mining business”.

Over the next 18 months, the come said the Gold Ridge mine site will undergo a complete refurbishment with infrastructure upgrades to improve site access and the construction of a new power station.

“An independent review of the tailings storage facility will be commissioned to minimise risk to local communities.

“Community relations activities will ramp up with one of the priorities the establishment of socially inclusive engagement mechanisms with landowners and local communities.”

Solomons landowners discuss concerns on reopening gold mine

The over-full tailings dam facility at the Gold Ridge Gold Mine on Guadalcanal in Solomon Islands in January 2015. Photo: copyright Dr Matthew Allen – ANU

Radio New Zealand | 10 May 2017

Landowners on Guadalcanal in Solomon Islands have been consulted about the proposed reopening of the Gold Ridge gold mine.

The mine was closed in 2014 after massive floods and its ownership was then transferred from the Australian owner St Barbara to a local land-owning company Guadalcanal Community Investments Ltd.

Guadalcanal Community Investments Ltd is now working with Chinese-owned Australian property developer AXF Group which plans to have the mine operational by the end of 2018.

Bringing the gold mine back to life is also a major policy objective of the government which says it wants to do it right.

Members of landowning communities discussed a range of issues with government officials and company representatives relating to royalties, security, environmental impact, revenue sharing and the relocation of people.

They were assured by both the government and the company that their concerns would be taken onboard and addressed to ensure a smooth reopening.

Solomon Islands Government pushes for controversial Gold Ridge mine to reopen

The mine, on Guadalcanal, is about 40 kilometres from the Solomon Islands’ capital, Honiara. (Concrete Evidence, file)

Richard Ewart, Bindi Bryce | ABC News | 31 January 2017

The Solomon Islands Government says it is planning to reopen the gold mine that was sold to local landowners by an Australian miner in 2015 for $100.

Key points:

• The only gold mine in Solomon Islands has been closed since 2014 amid environmental concerns
• Gold Ridge mine is owned by a local landholder group which supports its rehabilitation
• A Chinese property investment company says it has invested in the mine

Mining company St Barbara controversially sold its legal liability in the mine to local landowner company Goldridge Community Investment.

The Solomon Islands Government said it was now negotiating with landowners and an investor — Australian-based Chinese property developer AXF Group.

A statement on the company’s website said AXF had partnered with Goldridge Community Investment, “and aims to repair, refurbish and upgrade the Gold Ridge plant to bring it back into operation”.

The mine on central Guadalcanal, south-east of the capital Honiara, was closed after severe flooding in 2014.

Since then, there have been constant concerns over the risk posed to public safety by the threat of toxic water overflowing from the tailings dam.

Shortly after St Barbara sold the mine, the Solomon Islands Government declared it a disaster area when a tropical cyclone filled the dam to capacity.

In 2016, after an “uncontrolled release” of untreated water from the mine’s tailings dam, Solomon Islands health authorities warned villagers living downstream not to use river water because it could be contaminated by arsenic.

Plans to reopen ‘as soon as practically possible’

Gold Ridge gold mine in Solomon Islands has had a chequered history.

The Government said in a statement it now hoped the mine would be reopened “as soon as is practically possible”.

Prime Minister Manasseh Sogavare’s chief of staff, Robson Djokovic, told the ABC’s Pacific Beat program there were still risks associated with the mine reopening, but they were being addressed.

“There are procedures and systems that have been developed … to ensure the highest standards of safety are met to avoid any potential hazards or risks,” Mr Djokovic said.

“Of course, not everybody is going to agree. We understand the reality of those who might object.

“But the Government is ensuring that thorough consultation is being carried out and we are listening to the various stakeholders, particularly those that are located in the area of the mine site.”

Mothers wash their children in a river bed near the Gold Ridge mine. (Reuters: James Regan, file)

The chairman of the landowner company, Walton Naezon, said local landholders did not oppose the Government’s push to reopen the mine.

But he told Pacific Beat it would take time.

“We’re trying to restructure and rehabilitate an old mine which has gone, run down almost 100 per cent,” he said.

“We are going to look at all the aspects of environment issues [and] we are going to make sure that our foreign partners are listening to us.

“We want to do everything right according to law. We must make sure everyone likes the operation and the benefits of the operation.”

Solomon Islands govt reinstates Gold Ridge mining lease

Radio New Zealand | 24 January 2017

The mining lease for a closed gold mine in Solomon Islands is being reinstated by the government after having been cancelled by the mines minister last year.

A government statement said the relevant framework for the Gold Ridge mine to reopen was being finalised.

But the chairperson of the customary land-owning company, Gold Ridge Community Investments Ltd, which is the minority shareholder in the mine, said this basically referred to cancelled mining lease.

Walton Naezon said the majority shareholder, the Chinese-owned AXF Group, wanted to begin reconstruction of the mine in early February provided the lease has been reinstated.

“There is two things, one is to start the mine, doing the roads, rehabilitating the mill, doing constructions and doing explorations and assessing the tailings dam. Those are mining activities that can be taking place quickly from February upward. The actual production was look at end of 2018.”

He said it was projected that the cost of bringing the mine back into production would be between $US80 and 90 million.

Politics said to be hampering Solomons gold mine

Solomon Islands coat of arms on Parliament buildings in Honiara Photo: RNZI / Koroi Hawkins

Radio New Zealand | 9 November 2016

A minority shareholder says political interference has set back the reopening of the Solomon Islands Gold Ridge gold mine.

The director of the customary landowning company, Gold Ridge Community Investments, said it’s been delayed by several months.

Walton Naezon would not give any specifics but said the political interference was to do with opinions on how the mine should be run.

Mr Naezon said a proposal to re-open the mine at the end of 2018 had been delivered to the government earlier this year.

“But there are some political issues that have been arising in the last one to two months.

“That has delayed that, so our new timetable that after GR engineering services finalise their report we might lodge to the government and I am hopeful that the new timetable will be for the first quarter or second quarter of 2019.”

Mr Naezon said resurrecting the mine will cost almost $US85 million.

He said the majority shareholder, AXF Group which is Chinese-owned, has already raised more than two thirds of that cost.

Mr Naezon said a separate Chinese engineering firm had completed a design for a new mine site and this is being looked over by the mine’s original designer, GR Engineering Services Ltd, from Australia.

Poisoning warning in Solomons

Water spills over the Gold Ridge tailings dam wall

Radio New Zealand, 13 April 2016

The Solomon Islands Ministry of Health has warned people living in villages below the tailings dam of the Gold Ridge Mine on Central Guadalcanal not to use water from streams for drinking, cooking and bathing.

The warning followed days of heavy rain last week which caused the tailings dam to overflow onto the streams below.

The Ministry said arsenic could have ended up in the streams and therefore it advised villagers also not eat fish and eels from them as well as animals using them.

The warning was given despite an earlier denial by the Chair of the Gold Ridge Community Investments, Walton Naezon, of the tailings dam overflowing arsenic into the stream.

The Premier of the Guadalcanal Province, Anthony Veke, told local radio the incident was worrying his government.

Mr Veke said disaster authorities were considering despatching water tanks to the villagers immediately.

Solomons government warns over gold mine tailings dam spill

Gold Ridge mine tailings dam

Solomon Islands government has warned villagers downstream of the Gold Ridge mine not to use rivers after tens of millions of litres of untreated water flowed uncontrolled from its toxic tailings dam.

Stefan Armbruster | SBS, 11 April 2016

A press release was issued late on Friday by the Ministry of Health and Medical Services (MHMA) titled, “Stop using the Kwara, Tinahula and Matepono rivers now”. Water has been pumped from the critically full dam since late last month to protect the dam wall from collapse but heavy rain caused the spillway release lasting more than a week.

“This overflow may carry with it sediments containing high levels of arsenic.”

Overnight the flow over the spillway has reportedly almost stopped.

The Solomons government declared the mine site a “disaster zone” last year over fears the tailings dam might fail, threatening about 8,000 villagers living along the river systems below.

Last month it issued mine owner Gold Ridge Community Investment Limited (GCIL) a licence to pump treated and untreated water from to safeguard the dam wall.

“All downstream communities are advised to immediately STOP using the Kwara, Tinahula and Matepono rivers until advised by MHMS and the World Health Organisation that it is safe to do so. Do NOT use river water for drinking, cooking, washing, bathing/swimming or fishing,” Friday’s Minister of Health media release said.

“In addition, downstream communities are advised NOT to eat food, including fish, from the river, NOT to prepare food or wash cooking utensils with river water, and NOT to eat animals that have died in or near the river.

“Finally, if the dam wall breaks, there may be a risk of drowning or injury due to the increased water flow. Communities should be prepared to evacuate quickly to a higher place, if required.”

The media release was issued to Solomon Islands news organisations after SBS reported on Friday the contents of a draft version dated four days earlier but that was not issued.

A downstream community leader said last week they were “panicking” about the release of untreated tailings dam water and had been “ignored by the government”.

Chair of GCIL, the landowner company that owns the mine, Walton Neazon said he had advised the downstream communities about the dewatering and to reduce their usage of river water.

GCIL said water releases by pumping and the over spillway began on March 29.

By last Friday, an estimated 150,000 cubic meters of treated and 92,000 cubic meters of untreated tailings dam water had been pumped out of the dam.

Water samples from the dam and downstream communities are due to be tested in Australia over the coming weeks.

The mine was shut down in 2014 after damage from severe flash flooding left the tailings dam critically full.

After the Solomon Islands government’s refusal to allow the then owner, Australian miner St Barbara, to dewater the tailings dam, the Gold Ridge mine and all legal liability was sold to GCIL last year for $100.

Dewatering starts at Solomons gold mine

Radio New Zealand, 31 March 2016

The over-full tailings dam facility at the Gold Ridge Gold Mine in January 2015 when the water level was one metre from the brink with 3 months to go in the wet season. Photo: Dr Matthew Allen

The local owners of Solomon Islands Gold Ridge gold mine have begun the dewatering process at the mine’s overfull tailings dam.

This comes several months after a water treatment plant was installed for the purpose which is deemed an important step towards restarting the mine operation.

The chairperson of Gold Ridge Community Investments Ltd, Walton Naezon, said a series of lab tests found the treated water surpassed WHO standards for safe water and saw them awarded a licence to begin draining the dam.

“And our licencse is to dewater about 540 thousand cubic meters of water. And we will do 12 thousand cubic meters a day at about 500 cubic metres an hour. So that is the licence we got and we have started and we hope to go for the next three months.”

Walton Naezon said the next three months would also see structural and engineering assessments carried out at the mine complex in preparation for reconstruction work to begin.

In December, Gold Ridge Community Investments Limited signed an agreement with Australia-based Chinese company AXF Group to take on operation of the mine.