“Land is our life, land is our physical life – food and sustenance. Land is our social life; it is marriage; it is status; it is security; it is politics; in fact, it is our only world. When you take our land, you cut away the very heart of our existence.”
Bougainville students quoted in Paul Quodling, Bougainville: The Mine and
the People (The Centre for Independent Studies, 1991), p.12
CRA Exploration Pty Limited, a subsidiary of Rio, was granted Prospecting Authorities over the area that would later become the Panguna Mine site and ultimately discovered a copper deposit in the Crown Prince Ranges of Bougainville Island.
Source: PNG National Gazette 1965 Nos. 2 and 13, PNG National Gazette 1966 No. 65 and Bougainville Copper Agreement 1967.
Rio caused Bougainville Copper Pty Ltd, which would later become Bougainville Copper Limited (BCL), to be incorporated.
In the same year, BCL and the Administration of the Territory of Papua and New Guinea entered into the Bougainville Copper Agreement concerning the development of certain mineral deposits.
BCL was granted a mining lease of 3,770 ha covering the Mine and processing areas and Panguna township.
BCL cleared approximately 220 hectares of tropical rainforest to establish the Mine site. The rainforest was cleared by poisoning the trees and spraying the undergrowth with chemicals and burning the remnants. The waste from this process was then pushed into drainage channels and washed into the Kawerong river.
Source: Applied Geology Associates Limited, ‘Environmental Socio-Economic Public Health Review: Bougainville Copper Mine, Panguna’ January 1989, pp. 2.10-2.11, 5.27-5.28.
BCL’s proposal to deposit solid waste in the Kawerong valley and dump tailings and fine overburden directly into the Jaba-Kawerong river system was adopted.
Approximately 8 million cubic yards of soft overburden and 26 million tons of waste rock and oxidised material were removed from the Mine site.
Source: National Archives of Australia file A452, 1969/4502, Letter from the Administration of the Territory of Papua and New Guinea to Mr Espie of BCL dated 27 April 1971 with subject line “Bougainville Copper Project Disposal of Overburden and Tailings” and Bougainville Mining Limited Annual Report 1971.
BCL commenced commercial production at the Mine.
Source: Bougainville Mining Limited Annual Report 1972.
Following the public listing of BCL on the Australian Securities Exchange, Rio:
Source: BCL Annual Reports.
The Kawerong river was diverted into a 2.5 km long concrete channel to permit dumping to continue.
In the same year, Rio Tinto Minerals (PNG) Pty Limited as agent for Rio Tinto Services Limited (being companies within the Rio group) entered into a management services agreement to manage the day-to-day activities of BCL.
Source: BCL Annual Report 1978 p.12 and BCL Annual Report 1997, p. 4.
Landowners advocated for, among other things:
Due to growing tensions, the PNG Government appointed an independent consulting group, Applied Geology Associates Limited, to review and make recommendations with respect to the social, environmental and economic impacts of the mining operations on landowners and the broader community within the mining lease area.
Source: BCL Annual Report 1988, p. 9 and Applied Geology Associates Limited, ‘Environmental Socio-Economic Public Health Review: Bougainville Copper Mine, Panguna’ January 1989 pp. 1.3, 7.1-7.5, Appendix II.
Operations at the Mine were suspended due to an uprising at the Mine and a civil war. By then, the Mine had produced concentrate containing 3.1 million tonnes of copper, 306 tonnes of gold and 783 tonnes of silver.
Source: BCL Annual Report 1989, p. 1 and Applied Geology Associates Limited, ‘Environmental Socio-Economic Public Health Review: Bougainville Copper Mine, Panguna’ January 1989.
It is estimated that, during the violent and protracted civil war, up to 15,000 people lost their lives.
Rio abandoned its former subsidiary by divesting itself of its 53.8% shareholding in BCL.
The Mine remained abandoned and its impacts unaddressed.
At the time mining activities ceased in 1989, BCL had:
Source: Source: Tetra Tech Coffey, Panguna Mine Legacy Impact Assessment, Preparatory Phase report dated 30 March 2022, pp. 17-18.
It will be alleged that, as at the present date:
The address of the Information Centre is Section 15, Unit 2, Arawa, Autonomous Region of Bougainville.
Email: info@pangunamineaction.com
Phone: +675 7452 0008