The Chinese company's biggest gold and silver mine project of the Pacific island nation was strongly

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According to UN officials, the Chinese company's plans to build the largest mine in the Pacific island nation, Papua New Guinea, run the risk of causing catastrophe to the locals and destroying the environment.

The Guardian on October 7 reported that, in an unusual intervention, 10 UN special rapporteur (UN) raised "serious concern" with the government of Papua New Guinea, Australia, China. Canada, as well as companies owned by China, are planning to open gold, silver, and copper mines in the Frieda River, north of the Pacific island nation.

Baskut Tuncak, the UN Special Rapporteur on Hazardous Waste, together with nine other senior UN officials, signed letters to the UN in July expressing "serious concern. potential and real threats to the lives, health, water and food of local people ".

The letters asked the governments and PanAust, a company registered in Australia but owned by China, to answer key questions, including the "lack of transparency on mine construction" allegations.

This mine, if approved and built, would be the largest in Papua New Guinea's history and one of the largest in the world , covering an area of ​​16,000 hectares.

The mine, scheduled to be built near the Frieda River - a tributary of the Sepik River in northern New Guinea, will yield an estimated $ 1.5 billion in gold, silver and copper production over 30 years.

The UN Special Rapporteur said that "this mine construction project and its implementation so far do not seem to care about the interests of those affected".

In particular, UN officials are concerned that a proposed dam built to hold 1,500 tons of mining waste could be broken, destroying the villages downstream of the Frieda River.

"We are concerned that important information about the dam containing the tailings, including analysis if the dam is broken, has not been made public or made available to locals and human rights defenders." Mr. Tuncak wrote.

"The proposed dam site is an area prone to seismic events. The potential for large earthquakes to damage the dam remains for millions of years.

While proponents argue that dam failure is 'highly unlikely', difficulty is not synonymous with impossible. If it happens, it will be a catastrophe leading to loss of life and environmental damage like in the Oke Tedi environmental disaster, "the UN reporter added.

Letters from UN officials also indicate that some human rights defenders in the region have received life-threatening threats and are attacked by "groups of strangers". There has been no information to confirm this group of strangers is related to a company owned by China.

The Frieda River mine project is in the final stage of approval. The environmental impact study submitted by PanAust is currently under review by the government's Environmental and Conservation Agency to determine the mine's future.

In June, the group representing 78,000 people living along the Sepik River officially announced that they wanted the mining operation to stop.

Vernon Gawi, a college student, said: "I grew up on this river, drank water, ate fish here. And now is the time to feel anxious for my future generations. The waterfall is still under construction, what the hell will happen to us? ".