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"Unacceptable risks to human life and the environment": China-backed mine in Indonesia rings safety alarms over the potential for its waste dam to collapse in the earthquake-prone region (news.mongabay.com)

submitted 4 months ago by 0x815@feddit.de to c/environment@beehaw.org

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Communities in Indonesia’s Dairi district continue to protest a zinc and lead mine being developed by a Chinese-backed company.
They warn the PT Dairi Prima Mineral (DPM) mine poses unacceptable risks to human life and the environment, given the potential for its waste dam to collapse in the earthquake-prone region.
There are 11 villages located around or downstream of the proposed tailings dam, making the prospect of its collapse potentially disastrous. Some homes and houses of worship lie less than a kilometer (0.6 miles) from the dam, while an entire village of 2,010 people, called Pandiangan, is just 1.8 km (1.1 mi) from the dam.
This would make the project illegal if it was built in China, since that country’s regulations prohibit the construction of a tailings dam within a kilometer of a populated area, according to Emerman.
These concerns are borne out in a series of independent analyses of the project’s environmental impact assessment, which experts say fails to live up to the standards the developers claim to follow.
Despite the questions over the assessment, the Indonesian government has issued environmental approval for the project, which local communities are now challenging at the Supreme Court.

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[–] jarfil@beehaw.org 1 points 4 months ago

a Chinese state-controlled company has agreed to loan $245 million to mine developer PT Dairi Prima Mineral

"China-backed" is a bit of an overstatement... and understatement at the same time.

China is giving the loan to reap some interests... but it wouldn't be the first time when they give out a loan, the local company is unable to complete a project staying inside the budget, then China refuses to increase the loan, but still requires repayment of the initial one, with interests, while the locals suffer from both a half-done project, and having to pay interests through taxes when the local company goes under... while it gets bought for pennies by the Chinese company.