20,000 villagers at risk if quake strikes Ranau

Minister to raise issue in Parliament as Geo Science Department researches problem.

KOTA KINABALU: If Ranau is hit again by another earthquake like the Richter 6 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, Ranau MP Ewon Ebin has warned.

“The entire mine could collapse and come tumbling down on the villages.”

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 6.0 and 7.0 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.”

He was commenting on the possibility after a working visit to places in Kundasang and Ranau that were hit by tremors, landslide, mudslide and floods in the wake of the June 5 earthquake.

Ewon added that he would ask the Geo Science Department to research the problem and at the same time will bring up the matter in Parliament. “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.”

Mamut Copper Mine was the only copper mine in Malaysia. It was operational from 1975 to 1999, and during this period the open-cast mine generated about 250 Mt of overburden and waste rocks and over 100 Mt of tailings.

The overburdens and waste rocks were dumped at various sites near the mine pit while the tailings were deposited in a tailing dam known as Lohan Tailing Dam (LTD) located in a valley about 1000 m below the mine.

Various environmental issues associated with the mine have been reported, in particular during its operational phase. These include water quality degradation and siltation. The most apparent and widespread problem associated with base metal mines is acid mine drainage (AMD) and this is particularly significant in abandoned mines. AMD can potentially be an environmental problem at MCM.

No remedial measures are in place at the ex-copper mine site. Inputs of AMD into the surrounding areas can cause adverse impacts to the water quality and aquatic life of the receiving rivers. In fact, according to some reports, AMD pollution was gradually becoming evident at MCM.