Ok Tedi

The Ok Tedi is a river in Papua New Guinea. The river was originally named the Alice River by the explorer Luigi d'Albertis, however it has come to be know as the Ok Tedi, Ok means river in language of the local people. At the rivers head waters is the Ok Tedi copper mine. The Ok Tedi is a tributary of the Fly River.

The Ok Tedi river is perhaps best known for its use by BHP (now BHP Billiton) to release toxic tailings from its copper and gold mine, resulting in vast destruction of wild-life and massive disruption to the lives of people living downstream. More information on this can be found at: http://pubs.wri.org/pubs_content_text.cfm?ContentID=1860