Abandoned Rio Tinto Mine Is Blamed for Poisoned Bougainville Rivers. The people of Bougainville are poised to vote for independence and already Australians, including Andrew "Twiggy" Forrest, are hoping to exploit their … The complaint over the poisoning of Bougainville’s rivers also calls on Rio Tinto to re-engage with residents to address the abandoned site. Thirty years later, the effects of the mine are still being felt. The claim, signed by 156 residents of the autonomous region in Papua New Guinea, is seeking an investigation by the Australian government into what it calls Rio Tinto’s failure to clean up millions of tons of waste at the former Panguna copper and gold mine. “Panguna mine is often cast as the economic key to Bougainville’s potential independence, but young MP Theonila Matbob says her people, and their land, must come first ”. “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. 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. (Image from archives via Bougainville Copper Limited) Ask Amazon Alexa for the latest SBS News or listen to SBS Radio. 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 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. 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. 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. Theonila Roka Matbob standing in front of an area destroyed by mine waste flooding. 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. We urgently need Rio Tinto to do what’s right and deal with the disaster they have left behind.”. Human rights complaint urges Rio Tinto fix environmental 'disaster' at Bougainville mine site. “If Rio Tinto is serious about learning lessons, it needs to listen to communities and take responsibility for the human impacts of its activities,” Ms Adams said. 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. THE OPENING, OPERATION AND CLOSURE of the Panguna Mine and the ensued civil war have doubtless been by far the most impactful events in Bougainville’s 33,000 years of 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. The mine was the largest non-aid revenue stream of the Government of Papua New Guinea from 1975, when it became independent, to the mine's closure in … British-Australian mining giant Rio Tinto was for 45 years the majority-owner of the Panguna copper mine in Bougainville, an autonomous region in Papua New Guinea (PNG). “The communities are living in a highly unstable dangerous environment,” said Keren Adams, the legal director of the Human Rights Law Center. The Panguna mine on the Pacific island of Bougainville is one of the largest copper and gold deposits in the world. 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. “Our rivers are poisoned with copper, our homes get filled with dust from the tailings mounds, our kids get sick from the pollution,” Ms. Matbob added. 30 September 2020. Rio Tinto has been contacted for comment. While the civil war is long over, some residents of Bougainville say the problem of pollution is becoming worse. 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. We urgently need Rio Tinto to do what’s right and deal with the disaster they have left behind," Matbob said. Rio Tinto also recently suffered scalding public criticism in Australia over its stewardship of the environment. Operations of the mine at Panguna and sharing of its revenues had been perhaps the major sticking point between Bougainville and PNG government. 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 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. DARWIN, Australia — The mining giant Rio Tinto has been accused of environmental and human rights violations in a complaint that says an abandoned mine is leaking waste and poisoning rivers on the island of Bougainville. “We live with the impacts of Panguna every day. 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. Follow SBS News to join in the conversation and never miss the latest live updates. Panguna was among the largest copper mines in the world, but it was closed in 1989, after protests by workers escalated into a brutal civil conflict. 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. Port Moresby Office +(675) 309 2800 BCL Catch up on SBS On Demand. 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 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. Bougainville’s significant economic problems could pressure the government into re-opening the Panguna Mine, which closed in 1989 during the fighting — at the time, it was the world’s largest open-cut mine. It’s a hue of grey-blue, the result of copper pollution and mining tailings from a long-abandoned copper mine upstream. The company said it was ready to have discussions with the communities that had filed the complaint, along with their representatives. " 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. Bougainville News : ‘Deal with the disaster’: The girl from #Bougainville who grew up to take on a mining giant RTZ. Download our free app on the App Store or Google Play for the latest headlines and breaking news alerts. “We’ll have to wait and see what meaningful action they propose,” she said. “These are not problems we can fix with our bare hands. 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. 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 Papua New Guinea government obtained significant economic benefits from the mine, some of which were funded social services in Bougainville. Our rivers are poisoned with copper…our kids get sick from the pollution,” Ms Matlob said. Three executives, including the chief executive, were forced to step down this month over its destruction of prehistoric rock shelters in the Juukan Gorge in Western Australia, which are sacred to two Aboriginal groups. The idled Panguna copper-gold mine was once a major producer and one of the largest open pit mines in the world. Posted On: 29 September 2020; Posted By: Terrell Davis; Comments: 0; Each morning, Theonila Roka Matbob walks down to the river that flows near her village, and looks at the water and sand. 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. Francis Ona responded by unilaterally declaring independence. Port Moresby Office +(675) 309 2800 BCL Sign up now for the latest news from Australia and around the world direct to your inbox. In … Key points: RTG Mining chairman Michael Carrick says a proposal by the Central Me'ekamui Exploration Limited consortium is more realistic and "for the benefit of the… Rio Tinto divested from the mine in 2016, giving its 53.8% interest in Bougainville Copper Limited (BCL) to the Papua New Guinea government and the autonomous Bougainville … 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. 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. 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. 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. 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. Bougainville Copper Limited looks forward to sustainable, responsible mining, being committed to the recommencement of the Paguna mine at Bougainville, PNG. But the case was dismissed in 2013. Between 1972 and 1989 the four main recipients of mine-derived revenue were: He set up the Bougainville Interim Government (BIG), but it had little power, and the island began to descend into disarray. 12:30. 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. Anglo-Australian mining company Rio Tinto is once again facing a backlash after it reportedly "side-stepped" its responsibility after failing to clean up toxic waste from a closed mine on the autonomous Papua New Guinea island of Bougainville. Watch SBS World News live daily at 6:30pm on TV and on our app. 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. A large number of nearby communities, Ms. Adams added, “don’t have access to safe, clean nearby water sources.” She said Rio Tinto desperately needed to conduct a risk assessment, and to contribute substantially to an independent fund to assist in the cleanup and managing of ongoing health problems in the community. She said surrounding communities were being inundated with large amounts of tailings waste washed into the rivers, causing a range of health, cultural and economic impacts for locals. The mine’s abandoned piles of tailings have also caused rivers to flood, destroying sacred sites. At the time, the Panguna open cut mine was the largest in the world. “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. Here, SBS News visits the mine that ignited its decade-long civil war. 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. The mine has been closed since 1989 and has ceased all production. 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. 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. Panguna Mine Conflict. A number of raskol(criminal) gangs that were affiliated with the BRA, equipped largely with weapons salva… Three executives, including the chief executive, were forced to step down this month. 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. Today 156 Bougainville community members have filed a complaint with the Australian Government against Rio Tinto for environmental and human rights violations caused by its former mine on Bougainville in Papua New Guinea. The ensuing civil war left up to 20,000 people dead and led to a peace agreement opening the way for possible Bougainville independence. Updated. Ms. Adams, the lawyer, said that while she was encouraged by Rio Tinto’s statement, there was still a long way to go before the vast and sometimes fatal problems caused by mining’s legacy on the island could be addressed. 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. Bougainville’s recent history is littered with a number of failed enterprises including attempts to reopen the Panguna mine. Bougainville Copper Limited looks forward to sustainable, responsible mining, being committed to the recommencement of the Paguna mine at Bougainville, PNG. The people of Bougainville will vote in a referendum this weekend that will decide on its independence from Papua New Guinea. Raised by the Australian Human Rights Law Centre, the complaint alleges that the massive volume of mine waste pollution left behind at Panguna mine is putting communities’ lives and livelihoods at risk. Disaster Capitalism is a groundbreaking documentary film about Bougainville, Haiti and Afghanistan, revealing the dark underbelly of the global aid and investment industry. SBS acknowledges the traditional owners of country throughout Australia. The complaint alleges that, through failing to address these ongoing impacts of its operations, Rio Tinto is responsible for significant breaches of its human rights and environmental obligations under Chapters II, IV and VI of OECD guidelines. 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. Human rights complaint urges Rio Tinto fix environmental ‘disaster’ at Bougainville mine site . Makosi village, where Ms Matlob lives, is one of several villages that are downstream of the mine. It provided over 45% of Papua New Guinea's national … 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. We urgently need Rio Tinto to do what’s right and deal with the disaster they have left behind,” added Mrs Matbob. “This is a company that holds itself out as a global leader on human rights, and yet as we saw at Juukan Gorge in Australia and we see here in Bougainville, there is a total disconnect between Rio Tinto’s rhetoric and the reality experienced by Indigenous communities impacted by the company’s operations,” the Human Rights Law Centre's legal director Keren Adams said. 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