Thursday, February 25, 2016
Wednesday, January 13, 2016
Ok Tedi Mine, Papua New Guinea
Introduction:
Ok Tedi mine (Ock Ted) is located in Papua New Guinea and is close to the Ok Tedi river. It is an open pit mine that mines Copper (Cu) and Gold (Au). These two are both minerals and Cu is used daily in people's lives. Currently mining is something that we can't live without because our world runs off of what is mined. That being said mining is still apart of the pollution problem and society needs to find cleaner, better, and safer way to gather certain resources that are needed in day to day lives. ("OK Tedi Mine, Oceania." Mining Technology. Mining Technology, n.d. Web. 12 Jan. 2016.)
Background Information:
Ok Tedi mine occupies Papua New Guinea, a place within Australia. It is within the mountains, and due to the of 8,896,577 Cu and Au being mined from it the mine has definitely left it's mark. The mine is a huge, open pit mine located on what was once Mt. Fubulan, but the mountain has since been mined down.
Ok Tedi is owned by BHP (Broken Hill Proprietary), and owned by the OTML (Ok Tedi Mining Limited) (Burton, Bob. "Asia Times: BHP Admits Ok Tedi Mine Is Environmental Disaster." Asia Times: BHP Admits Ok Tedi Mine Is Environmental Disaster. Asia Times, 13 Aug. 1999. Web. 13 Jan. 2016.)
Near the Ok Tedi mine, a township called Tabubil exists. The township was created primarily to serve the mine in its operations. Another town, called Kiunga is near the mine, which is a port town servicing the mine on the Fly River. (Campbell, Ian. "Ok Tedi Mine – Leaving Time Bombs on the Fly River Floodplain." River Symposium. River Symposium, n.d. Web. 13 Jan. 2016.)
Coming from the mine, as stated earlier, is a huge amount of copper and gold, though copper is the main resource mined from this open pit mine. This mine provides the copper for many everyday uses, such as wire, motors, coins, and other daily uses. These uses are mostly electricity based, due to the nature of the copper and how it conducts heat and electricity extremely well. ("How Copper Is Used." Australian Mines Atlas. Australian Mines Atlas, n.d. Web. 14 Jan. 2016.)
The mine was also subject to a huge environmental disaster, which will be further explained in the discussion.
Discussion:
Ok Tedi mine uses multiple ways to extract Cu and Au, the two main ways is heat or water. Ok Tedi has managed to avoid PNG's environmental laws and has exposed waste to the surrounding Ok Tedi river, this was due to the landslide that had occurred, and now because of it people who use the river are the ones who suffer the effects the most alongside with the fish ecosystem. ("Ok Tedi, Papua New Guinea." Ok Tedi, Papua New Guinea. WWF Panda, n.d. Web. 12 Jan. 2016.)
Currently it seems that there are no plans that are being put into place on creating a better future for Ok Tedi mine because of the case that is defending it. Therefore, even though 80,000 tons of limestone sludge has been put into the Ok Tedi and the Fly river, there won't be action to fix it until the case of Ok Tedi can be broken. ("Ok Tedi Immunity Gone, with Implications beyond BHP." The Conversation. The Conversation, 22 Oct. 2013. Web. 12 Jan. 2016.) The Limestone sludge was washed away by rainfall, and was swept into surrounding rainforests, swamps, and creeks, and left behind 30 square kilometers of dead land. The only opportunity for this to change was the people's voice against this but even that hasn't made a change.
Conclusion:
Overall the future for Ok Tedi mine is there, and it is has potential to get better, but because of the strong need for Cu and Au it seems like it might be dismissed. Due to this the river and surrounding environment will have to suffer the most and so will the people.
Videos!!!!
Citations:
("Moxy Früvous - River Valley." YouTube. YouTube, n.d. Web. 13 Jan. 2016.)
Ok Tedi mine (Ock Ted) is located in Papua New Guinea and is close to the Ok Tedi river. It is an open pit mine that mines Copper (Cu) and Gold (Au). These two are both minerals and Cu is used daily in people's lives. Currently mining is something that we can't live without because our world runs off of what is mined. That being said mining is still apart of the pollution problem and society needs to find cleaner, better, and safer way to gather certain resources that are needed in day to day lives. ("OK Tedi Mine, Oceania." Mining Technology. Mining Technology, n.d. Web. 12 Jan. 2016.)
 | |
| Tattersall, Miss. "Copper Ores." Copper Ores. Blogspot, 25 June 2013. Web. 12 Jan. 2016. |
Background Information:
Ok Tedi mine occupies Papua New Guinea, a place within Australia. It is within the mountains, and due to the of 8,896,577 Cu and Au being mined from it the mine has definitely left it's mark. The mine is a huge, open pit mine located on what was once Mt. Fubulan, but the mountain has since been mined down.
 |
| PNG Mine Watch. "Ok Tedi Mining Limited to Be Served Court Orders." Papua New Guinea Mine Watch. WordPress.com, 26 Jan. 2014. Web. 12 Jan. 2016. |
Ok Tedi is owned by BHP (Broken Hill Proprietary), and owned by the OTML (Ok Tedi Mining Limited) (Burton, Bob. "Asia Times: BHP Admits Ok Tedi Mine Is Environmental Disaster." Asia Times: BHP Admits Ok Tedi Mine Is Environmental Disaster. Asia Times, 13 Aug. 1999. Web. 13 Jan. 2016.)
Near the Ok Tedi mine, a township called Tabubil exists. The township was created primarily to serve the mine in its operations. Another town, called Kiunga is near the mine, which is a port town servicing the mine on the Fly River. (Campbell, Ian. "Ok Tedi Mine – Leaving Time Bombs on the Fly River Floodplain." River Symposium. River Symposium, n.d. Web. 13 Jan. 2016.)
Coming from the mine, as stated earlier, is a huge amount of copper and gold, though copper is the main resource mined from this open pit mine. This mine provides the copper for many everyday uses, such as wire, motors, coins, and other daily uses. These uses are mostly electricity based, due to the nature of the copper and how it conducts heat and electricity extremely well. ("How Copper Is Used." Australian Mines Atlas. Australian Mines Atlas, n.d. Web. 14 Jan. 2016.)
 |
| "ParaWire." ParaWire. Parawire, n.d. Web. 14 Jan. 2016. |
Discussion:
Ok Tedi mine uses multiple ways to extract Cu and Au, the two main ways is heat or water. Ok Tedi has managed to avoid PNG's environmental laws and has exposed waste to the surrounding Ok Tedi river, this was due to the landslide that had occurred, and now because of it people who use the river are the ones who suffer the effects the most alongside with the fish ecosystem. ("Ok Tedi, Papua New Guinea." Ok Tedi, Papua New Guinea. WWF Panda, n.d. Web. 12 Jan. 2016.)
 |
| "Introduction to Mineral Processing." Introduction to Mineral Processing. Chevron Phillips, n.d. Web. 14 Jan. 2016. |
Currently it seems that there are no plans that are being put into place on creating a better future for Ok Tedi mine because of the case that is defending it. Therefore, even though 80,000 tons of limestone sludge has been put into the Ok Tedi and the Fly river, there won't be action to fix it until the case of Ok Tedi can be broken. ("Ok Tedi Immunity Gone, with Implications beyond BHP." The Conversation. The Conversation, 22 Oct. 2013. Web. 12 Jan. 2016.) The Limestone sludge was washed away by rainfall, and was swept into surrounding rainforests, swamps, and creeks, and left behind 30 square kilometers of dead land. The only opportunity for this to change was the people's voice against this but even that hasn't made a change.
 |
| "Skeletal Micritic Limestone from Worland Limestone, Pennsylvanian." Skeletal Micritic Limestone from Worland Limestone, Pennsylvanian. Lake Neosho, n.d. Web. 14 Jan. 2016. |
Conclusion:
Overall the future for Ok Tedi mine is there, and it is has potential to get better, but because of the strong need for Cu and Au it seems like it might be dismissed. Due to this the river and surrounding environment will have to suffer the most and so will the people.
Videos!!!!
Citations:
"Introduction to Mineral Processing." Introduction to Mineral Processing. Chevron Phillips, n.d. Web. 14 Jan. 2016.
("Moxy Früvous - River Valley." YouTube. YouTube, n.d. Web. 13 Jan. 2016.)
Sunday, December 13, 2015
Biodiversity Hotspots: Southwest Australia
Myers, Norman, et al. "Biodiversity hotspots for conservation priorities."Nature 403.6772 (2000): 853-858. Biodiversity is the variety of different species who live in different biomes and make up the Earth's ecosystem. Biodiversity is important because without it life would not be sustainable enough for the planet to function properly. On the planet, there are specific areas called biodiversity hotspots. A biodiversity hotspot is when there are a large group of different species within the same geological zone that could be destroyed if not conserved correctly. Our group chose the Southwest Australia hotspot. This is classified as a biodiversity hotspot because of the high levels of biodiversity within the small area that Southwest Australia is.
Southwest Australia occupies the lower tip of Australia. Australia is a wide country that has many differing and unique species of animals that exist within their own specific biomes. Within Australia is the Great Barrier Reef, that house many different aquatic species. Australia's population takes different actions to protect its environment such as educating those who live there on how and why to protect the environment of Australia. Southwest Australia is a Savanna Biome. On the left is the detailed food web for Southwest Australia. "Food Web." The Savanna Biome. N.p., n.d. Web. 13 Dec. 2015.
The NPP (for the world), as you can see, was around 6.5 during September 2015. "Net Primary Productivity : Global Maps." Net Primary Productivity : Global Maps. N.p., n.d. Web. 13 Dec. 2015.
The Southwest Australian hotspot is home to many species that cannot be found anywhere else on the Earth. This has created an ecosystem that is solely based on animals that can only survive within that region. Some of these include the Kiwi bird and the Quokka (labeled the cutest animal in australia, they even have their own island for tourism) However, a problem has arisen in that area, which is the clearing of native vegetation for agriculture by humans. The regional, cultural, political, and economic implications that are a cause for this is the chance of increasing the income of money through creating agricultural land for production of goods. The global economic factor that influences this is supply and demand, demand being higher than supply thus causing clearing of native species for agriculture to meet those demands. This is causing invasions of species such as the Red Fox (right) to threaten native species such as Numbat. (below) "Red Fox." Wikipedia. N.p., n.d. Web. 13 Dec. 2015. "Numbat." (Myrmecobius Fasciatus). N.p., n.d. Web. 13 Dec. 2015.
The list of endangered and threatened species have now increased seeing that only 30% of the original vegetation remains, and that more animal species have been moved to the categories of being endangered or threatened. While this stands many of the previous endangered and threatened species have ceased to exist. What now is being done to protect this area is reserving of the land/area and using conservation recovery programs to save certain species that are on the verge of extinction or that are threatened.
So while the Southwest Australian Hotspot is in need of help it is receiving some much needed help. Although agriculture is still threatening the biodiversity and ecosystem of Southwest Australia efforts are being made to help recover the lost of the native species.
Citations
Myers, Norman, et al. "Biodiversity hotspots for conservation priorities."Nature 403.6772 (2000): 853-858.
https://au.news.yahoo.com/thewest/wa/a/27064182/tourists-charged-with-quokka-cruelty/
Southwest Australia occupies the lower tip of Australia. Australia is a wide country that has many differing and unique species of animals that exist within their own specific biomes. Within Australia is the Great Barrier Reef, that house many different aquatic species. Australia's population takes different actions to protect its environment such as educating those who live there on how and why to protect the environment of Australia. Southwest Australia is a Savanna Biome. On the left is the detailed food web for Southwest Australia. "Food Web." The Savanna Biome. N.p., n.d. Web. 13 Dec. 2015.
The NPP (for the world), as you can see, was around 6.5 during September 2015. "Net Primary Productivity : Global Maps." Net Primary Productivity : Global Maps. N.p., n.d. Web. 13 Dec. 2015.
The Southwest Australian hotspot is home to many species that cannot be found anywhere else on the Earth. This has created an ecosystem that is solely based on animals that can only survive within that region. Some of these include the Kiwi bird and the Quokka (labeled the cutest animal in australia, they even have their own island for tourism) However, a problem has arisen in that area, which is the clearing of native vegetation for agriculture by humans. The regional, cultural, political, and economic implications that are a cause for this is the chance of increasing the income of money through creating agricultural land for production of goods. The global economic factor that influences this is supply and demand, demand being higher than supply thus causing clearing of native species for agriculture to meet those demands. This is causing invasions of species such as the Red Fox (right) to threaten native species such as Numbat. (below) "Red Fox." Wikipedia. N.p., n.d. Web. 13 Dec. 2015. "Numbat." (Myrmecobius Fasciatus). N.p., n.d. Web. 13 Dec. 2015. |
The list of endangered and threatened species have now increased seeing that only 30% of the original vegetation remains, and that more animal species have been moved to the categories of being endangered or threatened. While this stands many of the previous endangered and threatened species have ceased to exist. What now is being done to protect this area is reserving of the land/area and using conservation recovery programs to save certain species that are on the verge of extinction or that are threatened.
So while the Southwest Australian Hotspot is in need of help it is receiving some much needed help. Although agriculture is still threatening the biodiversity and ecosystem of Southwest Australia efforts are being made to help recover the lost of the native species.
Citations
Myers, Norman, et al. "Biodiversity hotspots for conservation priorities."Nature 403.6772 (2000): 853-858.
https://au.news.yahoo.com/thewest/wa/a/27064182/tourists-charged-with-quokka-cruelty/
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