An environmental campaigner in Papua New Guinea says the dumping of mining waste in the Bismarck sea would be a threat to the welfare of the coastal communities.
Peter Bosip of the Centre for Environmental Law and Community Rights was speaking after Morobe Province's new Governor Luther Wenge said the provincial government would drop all legal challenges to the Wafi-Golpu mine going ahead appeared to give the green light for the new mine to dump its tailings at sea.
Wenge said the income generated will allow him to pay for the free education of the province's young people.
But Bosip said what the local communities have sought is for the company and the national government to come up with an alternate solution to dumping the waste - one which doesn't undermine the livelihoods of coastal communities.
"OK say let the sea be polluted and let those communities that are dependent on that marine resource and environment find their own ways of survival.
The government is going to think about the national revenue - that's not the way forward. People's lives are very important. They have to find an alternate solution and that is up to the government and the developers," he said.
Getting the copper and gold mine up and running is one of the goals of the national government as it looks at ways to kick start the economy.