Mamut Copper Mine

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The water-filled Mamut Copper Mine near Ranau, Sabah. The crater has a diameter of 1.2 kilometers and is 500 meters deep.

The Mamut Copper Mine ( MCM ) or ( Malaysian ) Lombong Tembaga Mamut was an open-cast mine in the Malaysian state of Sabah , in which copper, gold and silver were mined from 1975 to 1999. The Mamut Copper Mine was the only copper mine in Malaysia . Today the decommissioned plants are the focus of public discussion because of their immense contaminated sites .

geology

Typical rock from the work area of ​​the copper mine

The Mamut Copper Mine is located in the Kinabalu region, which consists of ancient Tertiary sandstone and mudstone and into which large masses of ultra-basic rock and granite have penetrated due to strong tectonic disturbances . The most obvious evidence of this fault is Mount Kinabalu .

The ore deposit of the Mamut Copper Mine is a gold-bearing copper sediment of inferior quality that belongs to the porphyry copper deposits . The sediment shows low quality copper blasts in connection with silicifications of dioritic- porphyric rocks that have penetrated into tertiary sediments and ultrabasic rocks. The silicification is in the form of debris zones of sugar-grained quartz veins, accompanied by sulfides and gold. Pyrite , chalcopyrite and chalcosine form the main constituent of sulfides, which are accompanied by small amounts of molybdenite , bornite and green copper minerals.

The copper concentrate obtained here contained 25% copper and 20 g gold and 120 g silver per ton.

Facilities

The Mamut Copper Mine extended to a total of four spatially separated areas:

In addition, the Mamut Copper Mine operated a shuttle bus service between Ranau and the facilities in the mountains, as well as social facilities for the Japanese employees. For example, the founding of the Ranau Golf Club goes back to the activities of Japanese workers in 1992.

history

The logo of Mamut Copper Mine Snd Bhd on the roof of a former company bus stop in Ranau
Mining crater seen from the lake, on the right the discharge funnel for the rocks

A prospecting of the area around Mount Kinabalu carried out following the United Nations Labuk Valley Project of the UN under the direction of the geologist DL Woolf provided evidence of copper-containing minerals in the area of ​​the Sungai Mamut in 1965. Explorations followed until 1969 in order to provide evidence of mining worthiness.

In the Overseas Mineral Resources Development Sabah Sdn Bhd (OMRD Sabah Berhad) , Malaysian and Japanese investors formed a joint venture in order to be able to raise sufficient financial resources. In 1970 and 1971, concrete plans were made for the opening of an open-cast mine with all the associated technical facilities. From the end of 1971 to the spring of 1972, the OMRD negotiated the conditions for copper mining (Copper Development Agreement) and the mining lease for the mine site with the Malaysian government . The two contracts were signed on February 16 and 19, 1973, respectively. The license agreement ran from January 1, 1973 to August 31, 2003.

In the following two years a lot of activity developed in order to create the technical prerequisites for commissioning. From the town of Ranau at an altitude of 550 m to the open-cast mine site at 1,500 meters, road access had to be created that was suitable for trucks up to 7.5 tons total weight. Large amounts of overburden had to be removed before minable concentrations of copper in the rock were reached. So that heavy machinery could be moved to the mine site, the existing road from Ranau to the Usukan Port loading facility had to be widened and all existing bridges had to be reinforced. As part of this infrastructural work, the bridge over the Sungai Liwagu was built, which is still next to the tamu in Ranau, and the bridge that connected the Usukan Port pier in Abai Bay with the road to Kota Belud .

In the meantime, a huge complex of crushers and rock mills for processing the ore-bearing rock had arisen on the opencast mine site. Heavy machines and vehicles were delivered in 1973. A 16 mile long tailings pipeline led to 400 hectares below the village of Kg. Lohan. Within the Lohan Tailings Dam built there , the liquid components of the mine sludge seeped away.

Test operations began in 1975 and on November 15, 1975 the first shipload of 7211 DWT copper concentrate was shipped to Japan on the freighter Yue Tai .

On May 27, 1980, the state of Sabah acquired 49% of the shares in the Mamut Copper Mine from OMRD Sabah Berhad, as the outstanding economic importance of the mine for Malaysia and Sabah became apparent.

In 1987 the company was restructured and from then on operated under the name Mamut Copper Mining Sdn Bhd. In 1991 Mega First Corporation Berhad (MFCB) acquired 100% of the company's shares. The state of Sabah has a 10% stake in Mega First.

After over 600 million tons of ore and overburden had been mined over a period of 25 years - including copper concentrate with a market value of 3.35 billion RM - the decline in production volumes indicated the end of the ore reserves. The last shipment of copper was finally shipped from Usukan Port on October 10, 1999.

The open pit site was returned to the Sabah state government on February 15, 2003 in the presence of Datuk Mahamad Jafrey, Director of Lands and Survey Department. The remaining facilities - the site of the workers' settlement with the Batu Dua Clubhouse, Lohan Tailings Dam and Usukan Port - were returned on December 2, 2004.

After the site was returned, all the metal components of the processing plant and the pipeline were dismantled and scrapped, while the remaining concrete structures still bear witness to the size and extent of the processing plant. The Batu Dua workers' settlement was deliberately made uninhabitable in order to prevent it from being used again by the illegal immigrants ubiquitous in Sabah. The intermediate storage facilities for copper concentrate at Usukan Bay were dismantled; the quay is now used to a modest extent for handling liquid gas.

Preparation process

Former jaw crusher station
Pebble-sized granules from the crushers were pushed into a hopper and conveyed to the rock mills via a conveyor belt.
Remnants of the thickener that followed the flotation process

The ore mining in the Mamut Copper Mine was not aimed at extracting the pure metals, but rather with producing a concentrate. For this purpose, a process engineering system was attached to the opencast mine, which produced the concentrate directly at the site of the mining.

For concentration, the raw material was first fed to a three-stage crusher, the last stage being operated in a closed circuit. This was followed by a two-stage grinding process, in which the last stage was again designed as a closed cycle. From here, the ore entered an eight-stage flotation cycle . After the flotation, the concentrate was thickened and filtered before it was shipped to Japan for further processing.

Occupational safety in the MCM

In contrast to most ore production facilities in Malaysia, the Mamut Copper Mine had its own occupational health department. The Overseas Mineral Resources Development Company of Japan hired a Japanese doctor to operate the mine in 1975, who was responsible for full-time outpatient medical care for the 200 Japanese and 1,000 local workers. From 1979 to mid-1992 this activity was continued by a Malaysian doctor.

In line with the difficult working conditions of an opencast mine, the number of work accidents was high. In the years 1985 to 1988 alone, the MCM accident statistics recorded 623 accidents at work.

Economical meaning

The operation of the Mamut Copper Mine made Malaysia one of the most important copper suppliers on the world market for years to come.

During its entire operating life, the mine was responsible for more than 50% of the gold and more than 90% of the silver production in Malaysia. Between 1990 and 1994, an average of 2 tons of gold and 13 tons of silver were mined in Sabah each year.

The copper concentrate obtained in the process facilities of the opencast mine was exported exclusively to Japan. The State of Sabah received a 10% royalty on the Mamut Copper Mine income between 1975 and 1987. This tax was revised downwards from 1988 to 1999 and afterwards was only 2.5%. In total, Sabah took 200 million ringgit.

At the height of copper production, 100,000 tons of copper concentrate were extracted annually until 1994, which corresponds to 25,000 tons of pure copper. In the same period, the world production of copper concentrate was 7 to 9 million tons. After the closure of the Mamut Copper Mine in 1999, Malaysia left the world market as a copper-producing country, and silver as a by-product of copper mining was no longer extracted in Malaysia from then on.

Incidents

Three incidents with an impact on the environment are officially known:

  • In 1975 there was a leak in the 45 cm thick and 16 km long pipeline that was used to convey the processing residues to the Lohan Tailings Dam. Over 800 hectares of land were polluted.
  • In 1977 heavy rains washed up parts of spoil heaps in the Sungai Lohan and polluted farmland along the river.
  • In 2000, residents of Kg. Bongkud and nearby areas complained about dust drifts from Lohan Tailings Dam.

Environmental damage

extent

The disused open-cast mine left a crater 1200 meters in diameter and 500 meters deep, which is largely filled with water. It is noticeable that, even after more than a decade since it was closed, the vegetation has hardly taken possession of the former mining site. The reason for this is the high acidity of the open pit lake and the contamination with cyan-containing contaminated sites. For the rivers fed from the mining area, such as B. the Sungai Bambangan, acid values ​​up to pH 4.5 and increased heavy metal contents were determined which can be traced back to acid mine water .

Sampling point on the Lohan Tailings Dam

As early as 1986, a study showed that the sludge deposited within the Lohan Tailings Dam consists predominantly of particles less than 1 mm in size, with a high heavy metal content, especially in the fine dust content. The study pointed to the importance of this constellation for environmental protection and predicted possible effects from fine dust clouds.

In 1996, the Ministry of Agriculture announced that an analysis of the papaya, bananas, pineapples and vegetables grown at Lohan Tailings Dam had shown that they were suitable for consumption; such statements were no longer made after the mine was closed.

Even before the open pit was opened in 1970, an area of ​​2555 hectares was removed from the Kota Kinabalu Nature Park for the development of the Mamut Copper Mine. The area around Mount Kinabalu , which is subject to particularly strict environmental regulations , had been designated as a national park since 1964. With the separation of the opencast mining area, the expected impacts on the environment were put into perspective in advance. The listing of the Kota Kinabalu Nature Park as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2000 did not stand in the way of any serious obstacles.

The frequent occurrence of small and medium-sized earthquakes in the region - including an earthquake of magnitude 8 on the twelve-part Mercalli scale on May 26, 1991 - was identified as a possible disruption of tectonically active zones by the additional soil loads in the area of ​​the Lohan Tailings Dam.

Approaches to Elimination

There have been several approaches to eradicating the damage to the environment in the past, but they have either not been successful or have not fundamentally solved the problem.

In order to suppress the fine dust clouds, which represented a considerable impairment in particular for the village of Kg. Bongkud, the operator greened the Lohan Tailings Dam with grasses and vegetables and planted acacia trees. In addition, sprinkler systems were installed to bind the fine dust. However, all such measures were discontinued after the operating company returned the facilities to the state of Sabah.

Branded by the press as an “ecological nightmare”, plans to convert the mining site into an elite university, a farm for the production of organic vegetables or a 5-star tourist resort were doomed to failure from the start. In addition to the poisoned lake and its drains, the constant danger of landslides was another, previously insurmountable obstacle to re-use.

The latest approach is the project of the company consortium Crimson Ant and Borneo Unggul Projects Sdn Bhd , financed by the state of Sabah , which intend to treat the residues of the Lohan Tailings Dam in a combined process with the help of acidic water from the open pit. As a result, the open pit mine will be drained and the polluted Lohan Tailings Dam will become an agriculturally usable area. However, the consortium does not provide precise information on the planned process technology. Borneo Unggul specifies a period of 15 years as the duration of the renaturation process. Borneo Unggul Sdn Bhd was disbanded on December 27, 2015.

Web links

Commons : Mamut Copper Mine  - Collection of Images


and display information about the image
Panoramic picture of Mamut Coppermine Lake

literature

  • J. Newton-Smith: Geology and Copper mineralization in the Mamut River Area, Kinabalu . In: Borneo Region, Malaysia Geological Survey Annual Report for 1965. 1966, pp. 88-96.
  • DL Woolf and others: Geochemical Surveys in the Labuk Valley, Sabah . In: Borneo Region, Malaysia Geological Survey Annual Report for 1965. 1966, pp. 212-226.
  • HJC Kirk: The Mamut Copper Prospect, Kinabalu, Sabah . In: Borneo Region, Malaysia Geological Survey Bulletin 8, 1966, pp. 66-80.
  • Tetsuro Nakamura, Terumi Miyake, Naotaka Kanao, Naoaki Tomizawa (元 海外 鉱 物 資源 開 発 株式会社; 海外 鉱 物 資源 開 発 株式会社): Exploration and Prospecting in Mamut Mine, Sabah, Malaysia . In: Mining Geology. ISSN  0026-5209 , Volume 20, No. 100, 1970.
  • Tsuyoshi Kawahara: The Outline Of The Mamut Copper Mine . In: World Mining And Metals Technology. Volume 1, 1976, Chapter 6.
  • Phin Keong Voon, Tiong Sa Teh: Land Use and the Environment in the South Kinabalu Highlands, Malaysia. In: Malaysian Journal of Tropical Geography. Volume 23 (2), 1992, pp. 103-118 (PDF; 27.47 MB).

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ HJC Kirk: The Mamut Copper Prospect, Kinabalu, Sabah . In: Borneo Region, Malaysia Geological Survey Bulletin 8. pp. 66–80, here p. 69.
  2. Jump up ↑ Tetsuro Nakamura, Terumi Miyake, Naotaka Kanao, Naoaki Tomizawa: Exploration and Prospecting in Mamut Mine, Sabah, Malaysia . In: Mining Geology. Volume 20, No. 100, 1970, pp. 106-113.
  3. ↑ Tsuyoshi Kawahara: The Outline Of The Mamut Copper Mine . In: World Mining And Metals Technology. Volume 1, 1976, Chapter 6.
  4. ↑ a b c Natarajan: Occupational Safety and Health in the Mining Industry. ( Memento of July 3, 2013 in the web archive archive.today ) Published by the Malaysian Integrated Occupational Safety and Health Network (MIOSH.net).
  5. ↑ a b c State Land Surveying Office Malaysia: Topographic Map 1: 50,000, "Ranau", sheet 22, 1st edition 2005.
  6. ^ Website of the Ranau Golf Club. Retrieved February 21, 2013.
  7. ^ RD Patel: Labuk - the valley of big returns. In: The Straits Times. October 25, 1964, p. 4, accessed March 17, 2013.
  8. ↑ a b c d e f P. Funk: History Of Mamut Copper Mine.
  9. ↑ Harian Ekspress (daily newspaper) July 31, 2008, accessed in the Sabah State Archives on February 21, 2013.
  10. ^ A b c Daily Express: Making Mamut bloom in the next millenium. March 24, 1996, p. 2, accessed February 21, 2013 at the Sabah State Archives .
  11. ↑ a b c d e f Hilary Chiew: Poisonous wasteland.  ( Page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. In: The Star. October 2, 2007, accessed February 22, 2013.@1@ 2Template: Dead Link / thestar.com.my  
  12. ^ Mega First Corporation Berhad (MFCB): MFCB Milestones. Retrieved February 22, 2013.
  13. ^ Robert Weissman: Sabah's Mining Menace. In: Multinational Monitor. April 1994, Volume 15, Number 4, accessed February 22, 2013.
  14. ↑ a b c Borneo Mail: Are there takers? February 24, 2003, accessed February 21, 2013 at the Sabah State Archives .
  15. ^ A. Prigogine: Mamut mine and mill - newest Southeast Asian porphyry development.  ( Page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. In: World Mining. Volume 37, Number 10, 1975, pp. 42-48.@1@ 2Template: Toter Link / catalogue.nrcan.gc.ca  
  16. ^ A b John C. Wu: The Mineral Industry Of Malaysia. In: Minerals Yearbook. Volume 3: Area Reports: International. 1994 (PDF; 79 kB).
  17. ↑ The World Copper Factbook 2012. (PDF, download only possible with Windows Explorer) International Copper Study Group, 2012, accessed on May 20, 2013 (English).
  18. ↑ Overview - Malaysian Minerals. Malaysianminerals.com, accessed May 20, 2013 .
  19. ^ New Sabah Times, September 16, 2000, accessed February 21, 2013 in the Sabah State Archives .
  20. ↑ Marcus Jopony, Felix Tongkul: Economic and Environmental Impacts of Mining in Mamut. In: Borneo Science. Volume 24, Universiti Malaysia Sabah, March 2009 (PDF; 134 kB; English).
  21. ↑ Marcus Jopony, Gires Usup, Murtedza Mohamed: Particle Size Distribution of Copper Mine Tailings from Lohan Ranau Sabah and its Relationship with Heavy Metal Content. (PDF; 1.04 MB) In: Pertanika 10 (1). 1987, pp. 37-40 , accessed on May 22, 2013 (English).
  22. ↑ Amity A. Doolittle: Native land tenure, conservation, and development in a pseudo-democracy: Sabah, Malaysia. In: Journal of Peasant Studies, 34: 3, 2007, pp. 474–497 (PDF; 178 kB).
  23. ↑ Felix Tongkul: The Ranau Earthquake - Possible Causes . In: Sabah Society Journal . tape 9 , no. 4 , 1992 (English).
  24. ^ Crimson Ant website: Projects & Investments. ( Memento of the original from February 28, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Retrieved February 22, 2013. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.crimsonant.com
  25. ↑ Borneo Unggul website: FAQs. ( Memento of the original from February 3, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Retrieved February 22, 2013. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.borneounggul.com
  26. ↑ site of MYS: Excerpt from the Malaysian company register. Retrieved May 4, 2016.
This article was added to the list of articles worth reading on May 30, 2013 in this version .

Coordinates: 6 ° 1 ′ 35.5 ″  N , 116 ° 39 ′ 20.7 ″  E