Greenpeace: Contaminants in Rapu-Rapu creek highly toxic

An inspection conducted by Greenpeace and local officials of Rapu-Rapu on the island’s Mirikpitik creek showed it is contaminated by the Lafayette mine, a statement from the international environmental group said Thursday. Greenpeace said water samples taken from the creek, which leads out from the mine and into the sea, showed very high levels of toxic metals such as cadmium, copper and zinc. “These extremely high levels of the heavy metals found in the samples are toxic to plants, animals and humans. The proximity of the mine to the sea means that the marine organisms such as corals are likely to be impacted causing harm to the fragile coral reef ecosystem," said Dr. Janet Cotter, Greenpeace scientist onboard the MY Esperanza. Cotter said the impacts on the reef “would be a disaster for marine biodiversity including the whale shark and also local fisheries." In April 2005, the Australian firm started mining gold, silver, copper and zinc on Rapu Rapu Island in the central Philippine province of Albay. The poor environmental safeguards resulted in spills of cyanide and other contaminants from the mine spilled into the sea and around the island, resulting in massive fish kills after heavy rains in October that same year. The mine had since stopped processing but in July this year, a 30-day trial run commenced to see if the mine could operate without causing contamination. The Environment department earlier said an extension of the dry run was likely to be given to Lafayette. On July 18, a fishkill occurred in Mirikpitik Creek, one of the creeks leading out of the mine premises. Greenpeace sampled the creek at the beginning of August and found it to be clearly affected in its lower stretch by acid mine drainage. The creek waters were acidic in this section, and the presence of the characteristic yellow solid precipitate indicated that this creek is significantly impacted due to acid mine drainage. The acid mine drainage has resulted in very high levels of heavy metals in this creek, particularly cadmium, copper and zinc, Cotter said. The metals were present in dissolved forms at many hundreds of times above general background levels for these metals in river water, she said. Cadmium and copper are both highly toxic to plants, animals and humans and many aquatic species are very sensitive to cadmium and copper. Ongoing exposure to zinc at sub lethal concentrations can also impact aquatic organisms. Greenpeace said that even from the 30-day trial, Lafayette is causing contamination of the waters on Rapu Rapu. If full-scale mining is allowed on Rapu Rapu, it will be an ecological disaster for the local ecology. “Toxic pollution from the mine would clearly affect the coastal and marine ecosystems of Rapu-Rapu Island. Therefore, Lafayette's mining operations in Rapu Rapu must be permanently shut down. Immediate clean up and rehabilitation of the mine site and all affected areas must also take place," said Beau Baconguis, a Greenpeace campaigner who is also onboard the Esperanza. The Esperanza is in the Philippines on the latest leg of her global Defending Our Oceans expedition to highlight the wonders and the environmental threats to the world's oceans and to campaign for the establishment of marine reserves. Scientists recognize the Philippine archipelago as the world's centre of marine biodiversity, but is also the most highly threatened, citing the danger of mass extinction in a scale similar to that of the destruction of the Brazilian rainforests. -GMANews.TV