On the trip back to the base of PT Weda Bay Nickel after our two days in the Aketajawe-Lolobata National Park, we flew over the operating nickel mine at Tanjung Buli owned by publicly listed PT Aneka Tambang, but which has been operated since the opening in 2001 by a subcontractor.
What we saw seemed to be oil discharges just offshore, notable soil erosion in the coastal zone below the mine site, streams of mud coursing down the slopes, all with no apparent mitigation structures in place (see below for a short video). Such high levels of runoff have apparently been noticed before (see version translated to English by Google). When we were back in the North Maluku provincial capital of Ternate, we met with the Head of the Provincial Environment Impact Assessment Agency (BAPEDALDA) and showed him this short film. He and his staff were very concerned and explained that they had more than 100 mines in the province to attend to and felt that having this film available on the internet might make their work easier.
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