The license for PT Newmont Nusa Tenggara?s copper and gold tailings disposal into Senunu Bay expires this week. Blamed for polluting the sea, the evidence is inadequate, though.

THE waters of Senunu Bay are no longer frequented by fish. Lately, in every fishing round, the fishermen living near Swis Rantung Beach?as they call the coast of Senunu Bay?have had to be prepared to go home with only a handful of small fish.

?Previously, people would be laughing at us with such small catch,? said Nalam, 20, a fisherman from Tongo village, Sekongkang district, not far from Swis Beach, last week. What Nalam meant by previously was the time when PT Newmont Nusa Tenggara had not yet dumped its tailings or copper and gold mining residue into Senunu Bay. Close to where he was standing, like an anaconda, a giant black pipe was sticking out into the sea, discharging thousands of tons of tailings daily.

One and a half kilometers eastward, another fisherman had the same complaint.