Sabah mulling options on huge acidic mining lake

The authorities are concerned that there’s no special pond to treat the contaminated water.

KOTA KINABALU: The Sabah Government may seal off an acidic lake, formed by an open pit at the abandoned Mamut Copper mine in Ranau, as a pre-emptive measure to prevent the possibility of the contaminated water source flowing into the nearby waterways.

Sabah Minister of Tourism, Culture and Environment Masidi Manjun, who raised this possibility in the wake of questions in the Legislative Assembly this week, said the authorities are concerned that at present there’s no special pond to treat the contaminated water which contained acid mine drainage (AMD). “We have to work with the Federal Government on this both for financial and technical reasons.”

“Our worry is that if the wall of the open pit breaks for some reason, the water will flow out into the water sources used by residents in the immediate vicinity and further downstream,” said Masidi. “The open pit was made of hard, strong and thick granite which, according to the Sabah Minerals and Geoscience Department (SMGD), won’t break unless a major earthquake hits the Ranau area.”

“On a plus point, the water pressure in the open pit had been become lower over the years as the water had become shallower, from 100 metres depth to about 80 metres now.”

He dismissed reports circulating in the social media that cracks are already visible here and there on the wall of the open pit. “The SMGD has inspected the wall and given it the all clear. Even the June 5 Richter 6 earthquake didn’t affect it. In fact, we are even thinking of developing the area around it into various tourism products.”

The Minister was highlighting various concerns raised on the abandoned mine, once the largest such operation in Asia.

Earlier, the Federal Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation had estimated that if Ranau was hit again by another earthquake like that on June 5, but this time between Richter 6 and 7, some 20,000 people living in 40 villages near the abandoned Mamut Copper Mine would be put at grave risk. “The entire mine could collapse and come tumbling down on the villages,” Ranau MP Ewon Ebin warned.

Ewon, who is also Federal Minister of Science, Technology and Innovation, said that one thing that worries him about the Mamut Copper Mine was that it stores 22.6 million cubic meters (m3) of water. “So if another earthquake with the magnitude of between 6 and 7 on the Richter scale strikes, I am afraid that the wall of the mine could burst.”

“If it does collapse, then it will result in a catastrophe many times worse because along the river from Poring to Ulu Sugut, there are over 40 villages and nearly 20,000 villagers.”

Ewon added that he would ask the SMGD to research the problem and at the same time will bring up the matter in Parliament as Kundasang and Ranau were also hit by tremors, landslide, mudslide and floods in the wake of the June 5 earthquake. “The most important thing now was to keep the people in this district safe. We don’t want them to be exposed to any danger,” said Ewon.