THE Government, through the Ministry of Environment, Climate Change, Disaster Management and Meteorology will be working closely with the Gold Ridge Mining Limited to monitor the current dewatering of the Tailings Storage Facility (TSF).
This was revealed to the media by the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry, Dr Melchior Mataki, during an interview at the site on Wednesday.
He said, the ministry will work alongside the company to make sure that the company is complying with the conditions of the license.
It was understood that, the government has also given temporary approval for the Gold Ridge Mining Company limited to also discharge untreated water from the Tailings Storage Facility (TSF), during the cause of the current dewatering process.
Dr Mataki explained that, the discharge of untreated water is paramount at this stage, basically to reduce the water level of the TSF.
The Government has granted approval on March 19th for the dewatering process to take place following wider community consultations and consideration of samples from the TSF to make sure the discharged water is safe.
It will take about three months for the process to be completed with the first 1 meter of treated water to be discharged into the nearby river this week.
The company is expecting to discharge 6 meters of treated water from the dam this year.
Meanwhile, the dewatering process has relieved uncertainties among downstream communities, the company and the government of the risk of overflowing during the rainy season with the potential to trigger an environmental disaster.
By RONALD TOITO’ONA
