Major environmental damage and human rights impacts by Rio Tinto's former Panguna mine confirmed

A major independent investigation, the Panguna Mine Legacy Impact Assessment was released on Friday 6 December 2024 and confirms what communities have said for decades: they are living with an environmental and human rights disaster.

The Human Rights Law Centre is working with communities in Bougainville to seek justice for the environmental devastation left by Rio Tinto’s former Panguna mine.

The Panguna Mine Legacy Impact Assessment was funded by Rio Tinto in response to a human rights complaint brought by local community members represented by the Human Rights Law Centre.

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.

Panguna was formerly one of the world's largest copper and gold mines. Close to a billion tonnes of mine waste were released directly into the Jaba and Kawerong rivers during the operation of the Panguna mine between 1972 and 1989. In 1989, an uprising by local people against this environmental destruction and inequities in the distribution of the mine's profits forced the mine to stop operating and triggered a brutal decade-long civil war.

No clean-up has ever taken place.

Community leaders are calling on Rio Tinto to immediately commit to addressing public safety risks and funding long-term solutions, so people can live on their land in safety again.

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