Bougainville communities’ human rights complaint against Rio Tinto

 

KEY PROJECT | Corporate Accountability

The Human Rights Law Centre is working with communities in Bougainville to seek justice for the environmental devastation left by Rio Tinto’s Panguna mine. Together, we are calling for action so people can live safely on their land again. 

 
 
 

Communities in Bougainville will shortly receive the first results from the independent environmental and human rights impact assessment of the Panguna mine.  

Rio Tinto agreed in 2021 to fund the major investigation in response to a human rights complaint brought against the company by 170 indigenous Bougainville residents, represented by the Human Rights Law Centre. The complaint alleges serious impacts to communities' safety, health and livelihoods are being caused by almost a billion tonnes of mine waste that has been left by the mine, including: 

  • Pollution from copper and other heavy metals which continues to contaminate communities' rivers and impacts their access to clean water for drinking and sanitation; 

  • Flooding caused by mine waste clogging local rivers, which is inundating peoples' lands and food gardens and causing large areas of quicksand; 

  • Collapsing levees and landslides from the vast mine tailings mounds which are at risk of imminent collapse threatening the lives of people in nearby villages; 

  • Stockpiles and tanks of potentially dangerous chemicals left from the time of the mine’s operation, which are now in a deteriorating condition. 

 The Panguna Mine Legacy Impact Assessment is being undertaken by global environmental consulting firm Tetra Tech Coffey to identify and assess impacts and risks caused by the mine and develop recommendations for what needs to be done to address them. The first phase of the PMLIA investigations have focused on the most serious and acute impacts communities have reported from the abandoned mine, including collapsing infrastructure and flooding caused by mine waste and pollution affecting their access to safe water for drinking and sanitation. 

The findings from the first Phase of the impact assessment will be presented to communities by Tetra Tech Coffey for feedback in early October 2024.  

The full report from the Phase 1 assessment is expected to be published in November 2024. 

The communities represented in the complaint have called on Rio Tinto, following the release of the report, to contribute to a substantial, independently managed fund, to help address the harms caused by the mine and assist long term rehabilitation efforts, as well as participating in reconciliation as per Bougainvillean custom. 
 
Rio Tinto has not yet committed to funding the long-term solutions and clean-up which communities have been calling for. On 23 September 2024, the company released a statement noting that: 

  •  The company recognises the importance of understanding and addressing the environmental, social and human rights impacts that have occurred since the cessation of mining operations; 

  • The company is seeking to partner with key stakeholders such as BCL and the ABG to design and implement a remedy framework. 

The statement also noted that the company has signed a memorandum to address some risks associated with ageing infrastructure and provided support for a water and sanitation project in central Bougainville. 

With the final impact assessment due to be publicly released shortly, Rio Tinto is at a critical point in deciding how to respond to the findings of the report and will face mounting pressure from communities to fund long term solutions and clean-up to address any issues identified.   

In May 2024, a class action (the Panguna Mine Action) was filed in Papua New Guinea (PNG) courts. The class action is brought on behalf of thousands of Bougainville residents against Rio Tinto and Bougainville Copper Limited by Australian-based and PNG law firms in relation to alleged “loss or damage as a result of the operation of the Panguna Mine between about 1972 and 1989 and its subsequent abandonment”. 

A failure to clean up the site and contribute to remedy would have major reputational and financial implications for the company, which has been struggling to reestablish its ESG credentials following its disastrous decision to destroy the Juukan Gorge caves in 2020. The company is already facing at least one major class action in the PNG courts relating to its failure to address dangers posed by the Panguna mine site, with others threatened.   

In the meantime, people in Bougainville are continuing to live in a volatile and increasingly dangerous situation. A preliminary report for the impact assessment prepared by Tetra Tech Coffey early in its investigations warned of major risks to local people. 

 
 


Watch the ABC News story from June 2023 on the deadly impacts of the Panguna mine.

 
 
 
 

Links to recent media  

  • Al Jazeera, 27 June 2024: Political deadlock frustrates Bougainville’s aspirations of independence  

  • Watch the ABC News story from June 2023 on the deadly impacts of the Panguna mine here 

 
Key ProjectRachel RichmondCorporate Accountability