The mine has been closed since 1989 and has ceased all production. Rio Tinto is facing accusations it "side-stepped" responsibility to clean up poisonous waste from a closed mine on Papua New Guinea's Bougainville island in a complaint filed Tuesday in Australia. But the case was dismissed in 2013. The mining industry has dominated Papua New Guinea’s economy for decades, with companies extracting minerals including gold, copper, silver and nickel. The United Nations Environment program will help Papua New Guinea's island of Bougainville manage on-going environmental issues associated with the Rio Tinto-owned Panguna copper mine. The company ran the mine for 45 years and divested it in 2016, leaving thousands of people who live downstream in the Jaba-Kawerong River valley to deal with the consequences. Catch up on SBS On Demand. 29/09/2020 1:59:00 AM. Panguna is a copper and gold mine that Anglo-Australian multinational Rio Tinto exploited, through its subsidiary Bougainville Copper Limited (BCL), from 1972 to 1989. The mine’s abandoned piles of tailings have also caused rivers to flood, destroying sacred sites. We urgently need Rio Tinto to do what’s right and deal with the disaster they have left behind.”. The people of Bougainville will vote in a referendum this weekend that will decide on its independence from Papua New Guinea. When the Panguna copper mine opened in 1966 it had cleared 220 hectares of the Bougainville rainforest, led to the displacement of local people, and introduced over four thousand foreign workers onto a small island. Three executives, including the chief executive, were forced to step down this month. (Image from archives via Bougainville Copper Limited) A group of Bougainville residents have filed a human rights complaint against Rio Tinto, alleging ongoing environmental, health and economic impacts from mining waste. The United Nations Environment program will help Papua New Guinea's island of Bougainville manage on-going environmental issues associated with the Rio Tinto-owned Panguna copper mine. In a statement released on Tuesday, Rio Tinto said it was “aware of the deterioration of mining infrastructure at the site and surrounding areas, and claims of resulting adverse environmental and social, including human rights, impacts.”. A recently released report by an Australian human human rights group recalls the social, economic, and ecological disaster caused by the exploitation of the mine in the surrounding communities. The complaint over the poisoning of Bougainville’s rivers also calls on Rio Tinto to re-engage with residents to address the abandoned site. The move was a turning point for a company that had long operated without consequence, Indigenous rights activists said, and it marked a milestone in Australia’s resources history. Pollution of the Panguna mine in Bougainville: Rio Tinto targeted by a complaint in AustraliaSydney (AFP) Anglo-Australian giant Rio Tinto is accused of shirking its responsibilities in cleaning up toxic waste from the gigantic Panguna mine, on the Papua island of Bougainville, in a complaint filed Tuesday in Australia. by Ash Jones. Rio Tinto operated the Panguna copper mine in Bougainville from 1972 until 1989, when local landowners — angered about pollution and revenue sharing — forced the mine to shut down. In 2016 Rio divested from the mine, passing on its shares to the Papua New Guinea and Bougainville governments, in a move locals say allowed the miner to entirely avoid the costs of clean-up. Rio Tinto faces human rights crisis over Bougainville mine. Disaster Capitalism Written by Antony Loewenstein Directed by Thor Neureiter www.disastercapitalismfilm.com. Reconciling these views is not as easy a task as they range from [the late Francis] Ona’s two decades old claim for 10 billion kinas to various other forms of compensation to Mungta’s admonition that reopening of the Panguna mine would be a disaster for Bougainville. “The communities are living in a highly unstable dangerous environment,” said Keren Adams, the legal director of the Human Rights Law Center. The group of Bougainville residents have asked Rio Tinto to fund an independent environmental and human rights impact assessment of the mine and support a program to help address any issues and assist long-term rehabilitation efforts. By subscribing, you agree to SBS’s terms of service and privacy policy including receiving email updates from SBS. We urgently need Rio Tinto to do what’s right and deal with the disaster they have left behind,” added Mrs Matbob. An abandoned Rio Tinto mine in the Bougainville region of Papua New Guinea has caused flooding as well as pollution, according to the Human Rights … Panguna Mine Conflict. A recently released report by an Australian human human rights group recalls the social, economic, and ecological disaster caused by the exploitation of the mine in the surrounding communities. Source: Human Rights Law Centre, Traditional Owners slam Rio Tinto for secretly laying explosives in Juukan Gorge despite pleas to stop, Significant WA cultural heritage sites 'at risk' in planned Rio Tinto mine expansion. The company which used to the run the controversial Panguna copper mine on the island of Bougainville is now trying to reopen it with the support of the island's Government. Rio Tinto also recently suffered scalding public criticism in Australia over its stewardship of the environment. Keren Adams, legal director at the Human Rights Law Centre, compared the miner's inaction over the Bougainville mine to Rio’s deliberate destruction in May of 46,000-year-old Aboriginal sites at the Juukan Gorge in Western Australia, under the direction of the head of its iron ore division, Chris Salisbury. Francis Ona responded by unilaterally declaring independence. Rio Tinto is facing accusations it "side-stepped" responsibility to clean up poisonous waste from a closed mine on Papua New Guinea's Bougainville island in a complaint filed Tuesday in Australia. Bougainville’s recent history is littered with a number of failed enterprises including attempts to reopen the Panguna mine. In 2000, residents of Bougainville filed suit against Rio Tinto in U.S. federal court, arguing that the company had mistreated Black workers, had been complicit in war crimes and had damaged the environment. The complaint alleges the Anglo-Australian company failed to mitigate the risks posed by billions of tons of mining waste that have turned riverbeds blue and caused health problems for more than 12,000 people living downstream. It does not take a sage or a seer to predict that what happened between 1969 and 2001 will continue being at the forefront of Bougainvilleans’ minds for many years to come. The limited mine employment opportunities were resented, but the far more limited mine revenue share received, not only by mine lease landowners but also by Bougainville as a whole, was of even greater concern for multiple groups involved in the origins of the conflict. The rights group filed the claim with the Australian National Contact Point, a nonjudiciary body that has the power to investigate complaints made against Australian companies operating overseas. In 2016 Rio divested from the mine, passing on its shares to the Papua New Guinea and Bougainville governments, in a move locals say allowed the miner to entirely avoid the costs of clean-up. Operations of the mine at Panguna and sharing of its revenues had been perhaps the major sticking point between Bougainville and PNG government. Bougainville News : ‘Deal with the disaster’: The girl from #Bougainville who grew up to take on a mining giant RTZ. It said the waste was making the island’s drinking water unsafe and causing health problems, including skin conditions and upper respiratory and gastrointestinal illness, particularly in children. Download our free app on the App Store or Google Play for the latest headlines and breaking news alerts. The moratorium is a dramatic turnaround in policy from the Autonomous Bougainville Government, which determined landowners felt BCL didn't deserve a social licence to run the mine. Rio Tinto retained majority ownership of the mine until 2016, when it divested from the operation and allegedly left Bougainville without cleaning up a considerable amount of mining waste. We urgently need Rio Tinto to do what’s right and deal with the disaster they left,” Ms Matlob said. 30 September 2020. In the 1960s, Bougainville was explored for copper and gold mining opportunities which resulted in the opening of the Panguna Mine in 1969, managed by Bougainville Copper Limited (a subsidiary of Rio Tinto). When the Panguna copper mine opened in 1966 it had cleared 220 hectares of the Bougainville rainforest, led to the displacement of local people, and introduced over four thousand foreign workers into local communities. Bougainville overwhelmingly voted to break away as an autonomous region of Papua New Guinea last year, with debate still open over whether the mine could be reopened to enhance its economic security. Now, 27 years after the war forced the closure of the Panguna mine on the island of Bougainville, resources giant Rio Tinto has finally made the decision to cut its losses and walk away. An abandoned Rio Tinto mine in the Bougainville region of Papua New Guinea has caused flooding as well as pollution, according to the Human Rights Law Center, which released this photo from last year. For nearly two decades during the 1970s and 80s, the Panguna mine in Bougainville was one of the world’s largest copper and gold mines, generating an estimated $US2 billion. At the time, the Panguna open cut mine was the largest in the world. On Tuesday, 156 residents of these villages filed a human rights complaint against Rio Tinto with the Australian government. “We live with the impacts of Panguna every day,” Theonila Roka Matbob, a traditional landowner from Makosi Village and a member of the Bougainville Parliament, said in a statement released by the Human Rights Law Center, which lodged the claim. 12:30. The command structure set up by the BRA seldom had any real control over the various groups throughout the island that claimed to be part of the BRA. “Every time it rains more waste washes into the rivers...some communities spend two hours a day walking just to get clean drinking water because their nearby creeks are clogged up with mine waste.”. “We live with the impacts of Panguna every day,” Theonila Roka Matbob, a traditional landowner from Makosi Village and Bougainville’s education minister, said in a statement released by the Human Rights Law Centre, which lodged the claim. Thirty years later, the effects of the mine are still being felt. Rio Tinto has been contacted for comment. The mine was the largest non-aid revenue stream of the Government of Papua New Guinea from the nation’s independence in 1975 to the mine’s closure. The company passed on its shares in the mine to the Bougainville and PNG Governments and side-stepped entirely the cost of clean-up. He set up the Bougainville Interim Government (BIG), but it had little power, and the island began to descend into disarray. Residents of the Papua New Guinea region have accused the mining giant of environmental and human rights violations and asked for an investigation. The Papua New Guinea government obtained significant economic benefits from the mine, some of which were funded social services in Bougainville. Follow SBS News to join in the conversation and never miss the latest live updates. Port Moresby Office +(675) 309 2800 BCL A number of raskol(criminal) gangs that were affiliated with the BRA, equipped largely with weapons salva… " The Bougainville Government is holding a crucial mining warden's hearing at the abandoned copper mine which sparked a decade-long armed insurgency against the Papua New Guinea Government. The idled Panguna copper-gold mine was once a major producer and one of the largest open pit mines in the world. The complaint alleges the Anglo-Australian company failed to mitigate the risks posed by billions of tonnes of mining waste that have turned riverbeds blue and caused health problems for more than 12,000 people living downstream. A group of Bougainville residents have filed a human rights complaint against Rio Tinto, alleging ongoing environmental, health and economic impacts from mining waste. 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" The Bougainville Government is holding a crucial mining warden's hearing at the abandoned copper mine which sparked a decade-long armed insurgency against the Papua New Guinea Government. Our rivers are poisoned with copper…our kids get sick from the pollution,” Ms Matlob said. “We live with the impacts of Panguna every day,” said Theonila Roka Matbob, a member of the Bougainville Parliament, pictured at the closed Panguna mine pit last year. The complaint will be filed with the Department of Treasury’s Australian OECD National Contact Point, which has the power to investigate complaints made against Australian companies operating overseas. The company which used to the run the controversial Panguna copper mine on the island of Bougainville is now trying to reopen it with the support of the island's Government. Here, SBS News visits the mine that ignited its decade-long civil war. The Panguna mine is a large copper mine located in the Autonomous Region of Bougainville, in the east of Papua New Guinea.Panguna represents one of the largest copper reserves in Papua New Guinea and in the world, having an estimated reserve of 1 billion tonnes of ore copper and 12 million ounces of gold. Human Rights Law Center, via Agence France-Presse — Getty Images.
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