Because of this, no dividends will be paid, chairman Peter Taylor announced at BCL's 45th annual general meeting in Port Moresby. The 156 complainants live in communities around and downstream of the mine. Taylor said Prime Minister Peter O'Neill had confirmed in parliament that BCL had, by right of the BCA, was permitted to operate at Panguna for a further 21 years from 2011. My specific claims relate to a small window in the company's life, 1988-1990, where decisions were taken that implicated BCL in the hostilities, and the human rights abuses they generated. Sale today only. Streamline your workflow with our best-in-class digital asset management system. She and her colleagues contend that shedding its shares in Bougainville Copper, which controls the still-abandoned mine, does nothing to absolve Rio Tinto from its responsibility to improve the lives of the people who are still affected by the mining operations to this day. Heavy machinery mines the mountainside 1:30. On the 23rd of April 2012, Act Now posted a blog I had written on BCL and the Bougainville conflict [see above]. 6 inches of rain per hour. It sparked fears, rumours and intrigue when it emerged the Autonomous Government of Bougainville had drafted new laws that would assign the responsibility for issuing mining licences to a new entity Bougainville Advance Mining and a foreign partner. Be worried when fossil fuel lobbyists support current environmental laws. The PNG national government received a 20% share of profit from the mine, of which the Bougainvilleans received 5% - 1.25% share of the total profit.[3]. "Due to the loss recorded and the need to preserve cash for future development the company will not pay a dividend. Bougainville Copper, which is no longer associated with Rio, has estimated it would take seven to eight years and $5 billion to $6 billion to rebuild the mine and resume full operations. Once the backbone of the Papua New Guinea economy, Panguna has been idle since the civil war began more than 30 years ago - a war the mine was at least . Last month the President of the European Shareholders of Bougainville Copper (ESBC) Axel Sturm publicly raised concerns over the volatility of BCL's share prices. In this respect, BCL can make an important contribution to democracy and reconciliation in Bougainville by, a) fully disclosing their role in the conflict; and b) making amends with those affected by their actions. With Buka Island and several island groups, it forms the autonomous region of Bougainville. Many are from the long-suffering village of Dapera. Eighteen months later, Rio Tinto decided to divest from its local subsidiary in control of the Panguna mine, Bougainville Copper Limited, handing over its majority stake to the governments of PNG and Bougainville. The disputes between miners have been reflected in intense politicking among local landowner groups and political players on Bougainville. Entirely film backed, this material is available for licensing in 24p HD, 2k and 4k. Nevertheless, the company continued to provide material assistance to the security forces. 60 Minutes' report, "Seeing Red," on China in the Pacific airs at 8.30pm on Sunday November 17, 2019. Uploaded by Taylor said he was more optimistic about the future of this company than any year out of the previous 20 years. Since the end of mining activities 30 years ago, tailings have continued to move down the rivers and the waterways have never been treated for suspected chemical contamination. Landowner concerns with their treatment when the mine was previously operated led to civil unrest and closure of the mine. FEEDBACK: Use this form to send a message to the author of this post. The men break for lunch in the tropical forest 24:45. However, I was told by a senior BCL executive that the company was supportive of the blockade for two reasons: "One was the ability of the militants to get more weapons to increase the level of their militancy. The mine at Panguna was opened in 1972 and majority-owned by Rio Tinto.It was important to the economy of Papua New Guinea, but the people of Bougainville were seeing little benefit from it.The first Bougainville independence movement arose in the late 1960s, as people aired their grievances against the Australian colonial government over the handling of the Panguna mine. There was no answer from Caballus in response to a series of questions, including regarding its links to Bougainville Advance Mining and how it achieved such a prime position. These allegations were previously denied by BCL's former Chairman, but Dr Lasslett insists on their veracity. Engitech is a values-driven technology agency dedicated. Its very clear that no one elses pollution is responsible for these problems, Adams said. But Bougainville Copper simply abandoned the site in the face of a landowner rebellion. Mining operations were officially halted on 15 May 1989, due to militant activity . Rio Tinto, therefore, is of the view that it is for the people of Bougainville to determine their future, including any potential redevelopment of the mine.. Landowners are guaranteed rights under the 2015 Mining Act, but in an urgent bid in January 2019 to raise funds for the referendum, the government proposed to abolish those rights, at the same time allocating near monopoly rights to Caballus's Bougainville Advance Mining. Mining operations were officially halted on 15 May 1989, due to militant activity and the mine has remained closed since. And the team learned of the perils of fording rivers subject to sudden floods as aging tailings dams from the 80s begin to fail. 4. on the Internet. If you want to post a public comment, you can do that at the bottom of the page. web pages Clouds in the mountains 6:45. Paul Toohey 7 min read June 4, 2013 - 5:36PM News Corp Australia Network mining The case ultimately foundered on jurisdictional grounds. Iron ore magnate Andrew "Twiggy" Forrest has joined the race with an unruly bunch of small, struggling mining companies, all with links to Australia and share prices of 10c or less, for access to some of the worlds biggest copper and gold deposits on the Pacific island of Bougainville. Nevertheless, it is not my intention to vilify BCL. If BCL comes to the table and publicly acknowledges its role on the Bougainville war, perhaps the healing process can begin. The first Bougainville independence movement began to arise in the late 1960s, as people began to air their grievances against the then Australian colonial government over the handling of the Panguna mine. The two governments signed a peace deal in 2000 under which Bougainville remained part of PNG but was allowed a measure of governing autonomy. Rio handed its shares in Bougainville Copper Ltd to the Autonomous Bougainville Government and Papua New Guinea in 2016, judging that the Panguna mine was too risky to develop. A peace agreement was signed in 2001 and Bougainville was given greater autonomy within PNG, with a non-binding referendum in favour of independence . Grow your brand authentically by sharing brand content with the internets creators. Another significant shareholder, Graeme Kirke, is the founder of Kirke Securities where Mr Forrest previously worked. "It is possible that some further remediation work will be carried out on site with the co-operation of landowners, to make areas safe whether mining proceeds or not," he said. In the absence of any sort of mine closure or mothballing arrangements, the environmental and socio-economic impacts of the Panguna mine have only been compounded. 100 talking about this. "Some of these are within the control of the company itself, others less so. Several villages had to be relocated to make way for the mining operations, with around 200 households resettled between 1969 and 1989. Heavy trucks sit rusting on the edges of Panguna copper mine, closed in 1989 as a result of sabotage. Ben Bohane is a Vanuatu-based photojournalist. Back then, the company was still majority-owned by Rio Tinto (ISIN GB0007188757), the Australian mining giant that had created Bougainville Copper in the 1960s and controlled it through a 53.8% shareholding. In 2014, the governments planned to figure out how to clean up the site, and Rio Tinto was supposed to have played a supporting role. BOC:ASX price moved over -1.52% to 0.325 February 23, 2023 Key statistics On Tuesday, Bougainville Copper Ltd (BOC:ASX) closed at 0.33, 32.00% above the 52 week low of 0.25 set on Sep 27, 2022.. As the last ten years has proven, Bougainvilleans are a forgiving people. We urgently need Rio Tinto to come back and deal with these problems so our communities can find healing.. Bougainville's struggle sprouted from colonial exploits at the now-defunct Panguna mine. I also interviewed senior state officials in Papua New Guinea, including the former Prime Minister Sir Rabbie Namaliu (1988-1992), and senior military officers involved in the operations on Bougainville. Economic structure and growth 1. Locals amid the ruined mine buildings at Panguna (Photo: Catherine Wilson) In 1989, the Nasioi on Bougainville were the world's first indigenous people, angered by inequity and environmental damage, to shut down a multinational mining venture. Mongabay is a U.S.-based non-profit conservation and environmental science news platform. Louis-Antoine de Bougainville was a French admiral and explorer. Its clear the time has come for Rio to finally take responsibility for cleaning up the mess on Bougainville. If the ESBC wish to restore the integrity of BCL, then they should forward the following demands to BCL's Chairman and Managing Director Peter Taylor: 1. Different equipment is displayed in demonstrated 20:30. MELBOURNE, Australia An independent investigation will begin on Tuesday into the environmental and human rights impact of an abandoned gold and copper mine in Papua New Guinea . Bougainville Island, easternmost island of Papua New Guinea, in the Solomon Sea, southwestern Pacific. Photograph: Torsten Blackwood/AFP via Getty. 3. Meanwhile, a Chinese delegation is rumoured to have offered substantial funds in late 2018 to help finance a transition to Bougainville independence, along with offers to invest in mining, tourism and agriculture, with a figure of $US1 billion cited. Read more: In particular, the former Prime Minister and Foreign Minister (1988-1992) of Papua New Guinea, Sir Michael Somare, alleges that the Chairman stated lets "starve the bastards out". Matthew G. Allen has received funding from an Australian Research Council fellowship DE140101206. Today in Naval History - Naval / Maritime Events in History Other Events on 17 September 1574 - Death of Pedro Menndez de Avils, Spanish admiral and. But shares in the . During the final year of production in 1988 and 1989, Rios subsidiary Bougainville Copper (BCL) extracted 550,000 tonnes of copper concentrate and a whopping 450,000 ounces of gold. Of course, I can only hint here at the evidence collected over several years of doctoral research. The mine has been closed since 1989 and has ceased all production. See: U.S. Court is prepared to hear Bougainville genocide case against Rio Tinto, The greatest threat to Bougainville Copper's future is it's hidden past. Photo: Francis O'Neill, April 1994: . Adams and her colleagues documented the mines legacy as it continues to disrupt the lives of the 12,000 to 14,000 people who live downstream in a report released April 1. Yet this reconciliation to some extent holds a key to international reconciliation among Bougainville, Australia and Papua New Guinea". [1], The mine at Panguna was opened in 1972 and was majority-owned by Rio Tinto. Narrators John Worthy, Sam Bena. For example, the company's charitable arm - the Bougainville Copper Foundation (BCF) - had surveyed homes lost to village burnings, which were conducted en masse by the Mobile Squads and the PNGDF during 1989. I spent several nights in a large two-story house built entirely from a single tree dragged out of the tailings dragged upright, with a tractor. Read more: Bougainville Copper Project 1969/1970 Photos THE BOUGAINVILLE COPPER PROJECT 1970s PANGUNA NEW GUINEA COPPER MINE PROMO FILM 69684 by PeriscopeFilm Topics 1970, Panguna, New Guinea, Copper Mine, Promo Film, Stock Footage This is a 1960's era, color movie about the Bougainville Copper Project in Papua, New Guinea. Recent Growth, Poverty, Inequality, and Environmental Dynamics 1. But even before its closure in 1989, the knock-on effects of the release of what would come to more than a billion metric tons of mining waste had surfaced, affecting the land, its wildlife and the people who live there. Dec. 5, 2022. "Bougainville Copper Limited shareholding", "Bougainville imposes moratorium on Panguna mine over fears of civil unrest", "BCL takes Bougainville Govt to court over licence non-renewal", European Shareholders of Bougainville Copper (ESBC), Bougainville Copper Limited - All Annual Reports since 1967, Blood and Treasure - SBS documentary 2011, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Bougainville_Copper&oldid=1142268123, Copper mining companies of Papua New Guinea, Companies listed on the Australian Securities Exchange, All Wikipedia articles written in Australian English, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 3.0, This page was last edited on 1 March 2023, at 13:11. The Panguna mine was operated by Bougainville Copper (BCL), majority owned by Rio Tinto, between 1972 and 1989, when operations were suspended owing to an uprising against the mine and subsequent . While it is our belief that from 1990 to 2016 no Rio Tinto personnel had access to the mine site due to on-going security concerns, we are 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. 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 one billion tonnes of ore copper and twelve million ounces of gold. The production had a value of 5.2 billion Kina (K) which represented approximately 44 per cent of Papua New Guineas exports over that period. Sale ends. BCL company secretary Mark Hitchcock said from his office in Port Moresby that the company retained strong support among landowners and rejected suggestions the company had lost its social licence to operate. In particular Axel G Sturm argued: "Your disgraceful lampoon is remarkable. There is evidence to suggest BCL's Managing Director did raise concerns with PNGDF officers over the loss of civilian life. Luke Fletcher, a long-time Bougainville watcher and executive director of think tank Jubilee Australia warns of the resources curse that has plagued PNG. BCL placed substantive pressure on the Papua New Guinea government to send the Royal Papua New Guinea Constabulary Mobile Squads - a paramilitary style force, who according to their own commanders excel in the use of terror (RPNGC Assistant Commissioner, Personal Communication, 2006) - to Bougainville in 1988, following attacks on mine property by a landowner group. BCL operated the copper, gold and silver mine at the Panguna mine on Bougainville Island in PNG from 1971 to 1989. Millions of high-quality images, video, and music options are waiting for you. "The company has sufficient funds to cover its recurrent expenditure under the current plan and is debt free.". Also today, the . The Panguna mines footprint was gigantic, stretching across the full breadth of the central part of the island. The issue of compensation went to the High Court of Australia, where it was found that the compensation was inadequate under ordinary federal Australian law, but that as an External Territory, Papua New Guinea was not guaranteed the same standards that applied to mainland Australia. catshez@gmail.com. Are they fking mad? asks one former Rio Tinto executive who worked at the company when it was the majority owner of Bougainville. Debate continues raging over the role played by Rio Tinto's subsidiary Bougainville Copper Ltd (BCL) in the decade-long war waged by Papua New Guinea "security" forces on the people of Bougainville from 1988 onwards. Full breadth of the page deal in 2000 under which Bougainville remained part of PNG was... 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