Recommendation of the Council on Ethics 2023-08-22
The Metallurgical Corporation of China (MCC) is deemed to cause very extensive environmental damage at its Ramu nickel mine in Papua New Guinea through poor handling, discharges of mining waste directly into the sea along the coast. The sludge leak and DSTP at the site are deemed to have caused (and continue to cause) serious negative consequences for humans, animals and nature.
MCC, including its joint venture Ramu NiCo Management Ltd., has a lack of transparency regarding, among other things, the monitoring and effects of the company’s waste management. The companies have not provided any scientific information on the impact of the spill incident in August 2019 and, in addition, they do not provide any trend data for either environmental monitoring of their land-based mining operations or their marine waste activities. There are no scientific assessments to show that the waste site of Ramu Nickel DSTP is suitable or does not cause long-term, negative environmental impacts. There are no indications of improvements in the MCC’s DSTP operations, and no accountability for related impacts.
Despite repeated attempts to contact the company over several years, the company has not been willing to engage in dialogue.
The Council on Ethics therefore recommends the exclusion of MCC as the company can be linked to violations of the environment and nature in accordance with principles 7 and 9 of the UN Global Compact and Chapter VI of the OECD Guide.