Smelters are set to sprout in Sarawak to guzzle the energy that is expected to be produced by Bakun Dam, now that the government appears to have given up on the submarine cables.
This is the situation at the moment:
Press Metal Sarawak Sdn Bhd-Sumitomo Corp
Current capacity – 60,000 tonnes.
First phase – 120,000 tonnes.
Second phase – 240,000 tonnes.
Salco: Cahya Mata Sarawak (CMS)-Rio Tinto Alcan
Planned capacity – 720,000 tonnes. This would make it one of the largest in the world.
GIIG Holdings Sdn Bhd-Aluminium Corp of China Ltd (Chalco)
Planned capacity – 330,000 tonnes.
The power for these energy-intensive plants is likely to come from Bakun. Sarawak state wants to acquire the dam for RM6.2 billion, but the final cost of the dam is around RM7.3 billion. (Who will bear the difference?)
With all these smelters coming on line, it’s only a matter of time before spin-offs and upstream refining come in. That’s where the environmental risk will rise.
Check out an analysis of the Hungarian alumina refinery disaster (on the agmetalminer.com website), where red mud with high PH value spilled out.
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Actually Tun Maverick wanted submarine cables to bring electricity generated by Bakun Dam to peninsular.
But Najib heard wrongly and ordered 2 submarines instead.
…and the rest is history.
my advise is put them all in one place. Make sure there is no residential development around them for at least 17km. remember what happened in hungary recently with the toxic sludge. Pollution and toxicity is bound to happen. but if we plan ahead we can minimise its disastrous effect.
THE MOST IMPORTANT THING IS MINING COMPANIES AND GREEDY DEVELOPERS MUST NOT THINK THE LOCAL POPULATION ARE IDIOTS.
THE MOST IMPORTANT THING IS MINING COMPANIES AND GREEDY DEVELOPERS MUST NOT THINK THE LOCAL POPULATION ARE IDIOTS.
YES, they do think so. They don’t care at all as long as there’s money to be made. The after the fact is for us idiots to figure out a way. Not for them. See what happened to the Highland Towers victims. Life is cheap to these greeds.
A lot or resources in Sarawak are being tapped, yet the people there do not seem to have benefited.
Time for them to wake up and ask themselves honestly if they have made the wrong choice in the previous general elections.
CAP warned of the potential environmental devastation at least about 5 years ago. Of course, in our “siapa lu” culture, the dogs will bark but the caravan will go on – carrying the marauders’ spoils.