NGOs urge World Bank's MIGA to deny $207mn guarantee for Weda Bay Nickel http://www.mineweb.com/mineweb/view/mineweb/en/page72068?oid=107860&sn=Detail

Environmental NGOs have called on the World Bank Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency (MIGA) to reject a proposed US$207 million guarantee for Eramet France and Mitsubishi Corporation of Japan's PT Weda Bay Nickel joint venture project in Indonesia.

"The project would destroy a large area of Protection Forest in a tropical biodiversity hotspot next to a national park," the environmentalists claimed. "Sediment, large quantities of sulfuric acid, and mine waste would threaten massive contamination of streams, rivers, and the ocean in Weda Bay."

"Such impacts are likely to occur in the exploration, feasibility, construction, operation, and closure phases of the mine," the NGOs asserted. The groups also expressed concerns a mining project would destroy the land of the Forest Tobelo Indigenous People and threaten the livelihoods of local communities.