16 June 2020

Since 2010, landowners in the path of the Ramu nickel-cobalt mine, and the accompanying refinery on Basamuk Bay, have opposed the use of ocean tailings dumping. They sued, and the mine operators at the time, Metallurgical Corporation of China (MCC) and Highlands Pacific, were ordered to carry out and publish quarterly reports on the impacts of ocean dumping. To this day, communities have not seen a single report. What they have seen is a steady uptick in environmental and social problems from the Ramu operation.

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Enter Canadian company, Conic Metals Corp. in 2018. Conic, an electric vehicle battery metals investment company, acquired Highland Pacific's ownership share in the project. The company promised a responsible alternative to source critical metals necessary to meet the growing demand for electric vehicle batteries and touted Ramu as its principal asset.

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It wasn't until November 2019 that Conic reported on the disaster, saying that its partner Metallurgical Corporation of China (MCC) "continues to meet or exceed the obligations of its environmental and social licenses". The company went on to state that MCC is carrying out regular studies on biological effects of tailings dumping on marine life, in addition to the court-mandated quarterly reports.

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Conic did not respond to letters sent by Earthworks and MiningWatch in February and March requesting the reports and an update on what steps the company was taking to ensure it had independent, verifiable information about the environmental impacts of the Ramu operation.

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