Major environmental damage and human rights impacts to Bougainville communities confirmed by independent investigation into Rio Tinto's former Panguna mine
Communities living with the ongoing devastation from Rio Tinto’s former Panguna mine in Bougainville are calling on the company to commit to funding remediation and addressing public safety risks, after a major independent investigation funded by the company confirmed life-threatening, ongoing social, environmental and human rights impacts from the mine.
Rio Tinto agreed to fund the Panguna Mine Legacy Impact Assessment in 2021 in response to a human rights complaint brought by local community members represented by the Human Rights Law Centre, who allege major health and safety risks and impacts on their livelihoods from the almost billion tonnes of waste left by the mine.
The two-year investigation, undertaken by environmental firm Tetra Tech Coffey, focused on the most serious areas of concern to communities, and was the largest study of its kind ever undertaken in Bougainville.
The report identified serious impacts in all mine-affected domains assessed, including:
imminent, life-threatening risks posed by the collapsing mine pit, levees and infrastructure;
ongoing contamination of the Jaba-Kawerong river and movement of mine waste down the rivers into new areas;
mine-related flooding affecting peoples’ food gardens, access to drinking water and essential services and safety when crossing the rivers; and
toxic chemicals stored in some locations and found in the soil in some areas.
The report found impacts on communities’ fundamental rights to clean water, food, housing, culture, education, healthcare, and a clean and healthy environment. Possible health impacts were also identified but require further study through a further phase of work.
The report made 24 recommendations for what impacts needs to addressed or mitigated, and outlined areas for further investigation to better understand risks.
Rio Tinto has not yet committed to addressing impacts identified in the report. The company recently announced that it had entered into a Memorandum of Understanding with the Autonomous Bougainville Government and Bougainville Copper Limited to form a Roundtable to discuss a potential remedy mechanism.
Community leaders are calling on Rio Tinto to now:
Publicly commit to addressing the impacts identified in the Assessment and set out a clear timetable for doing so, prioritising areas of acute need and serious public safety risks.
Contribute to a substantial, independently managed fund to help address the harms caused by the mine and assist long-term rehabilitation efforts.
Undertake formal reconciliation as per Bougainvillean custom.
They have also stressed the importance of community representatives being directly involved in discussions about remediation.
Theonila Roka Matbob, lead complainant and member of parliament for the Ioro constituency where the mine is located, said:
“We never chose this mine, but we live with its consequences every day, trying to find ways to survive in the wasteland that has been left behind. The Legacy Impact Assessment has for the first time given us data and laid a foundation for solutions. What the communities are demanding to know now is what the next step is. A commitment to remediation is where the data is pointing us to, and that’s what the people are waiting for.”
“Our lives are not just a statistic in a report. Our homeland, our culture and our people must be taken seriously."
“It has now been over four years since we filed the human rights complaint. Over that time people, including children, have died trying to cross rivers filled with mine waste. Communities have watched their land being gradually swallowed up, their gardens flooded and sacred places covered over.”
“My people cannot afford to wait years more for solutions. Rio Tinto must take responsibility for its legacy and fund the long-term solutions we need so that we can live on our land in safety again.”
Keren Adams, Legal Director at the Human Rights Law Centre said:
“This landmark report validates what communities in Bougainville have been saying for decades – the Panguna mine has left them living with an ongoing environmental and human rights disaster.
“There are strong expectations in Bougainville that Rio Tinto will now take swift action to help address the impacts and dangers communities are living with.
“Children need to be able to walk to school without wading through areas of treacherous quicksand created by mine waste. Communities need to be able to live without the fear of collapsing levees or their homes or food gardens being flooded with mine waste.”
“The impact assessment has highlighted a range of life-threatening risks to communities, which must be urgently addressed, even as longer-term solutions are being discussed. It is also critically important that leaders from the mine-affected communities are directly involved in discussions about next steps, as the people best-placed to advise on the long-standing problems affecting them and the solutions they need.
“This is a defining moment for Rio Tinto’s social license to operate. We welcome the company’s constructive engagement and commitment to the impact assessment process so far. Rio Tinto now has a critical opportunity to demonstrate that it is serious about meeting its human rights and environmental obligations and committing to remediation.”
Background
Panguna was previously one of the world’s largest copper and gold mines. During its operation between 1972 and 1989, close to a billion tonnes of mine waste was directly released into the Jaba-Kawerong river. The environmental devastation that ensued, and inequitites in the distribution in the mine’s profits, caused an uprising by local people which forced the mine to stop operating and triggered a brutal, decade-long civil war.
Rio Tinto remained the majority-owner of the mine until 2016, when it divested and passed its shares to the PNG and Bougainville governments.
The Panguna Mine Legacy Impact Assessment has been overseen by a multi-stakeholder Oversight Committee which includes clan and community leaders from the mine-affected areas as well as representatives of the Autonomous Bougainville Government and PNG Government, BCL, Rio Tinto and the Human Rights Law Centre.
Over 25,000 people live around and downstream of the mine.
Links to additional materials
Media contact:
Thomas Feng
Director, Engagement
Human Rights Law Centre
0431 285 275
thomas.feng@hrlc.org.au
Chandi Bates
Media and Communications Manager
Human Rights Law Centre
0430 277 254
chandi.bates@hrlc.org.au