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Following a competitive tender process, the Panguna Mine Legacy Impact Assessment Oversight Committee has selected Tetra Tech Coffey to complete Phase 1 of the independent Legacy Impact Assessment which will cover environmental, social and human rights impacts.
Tetra Tech Coffey is a global consulting firm with experience working in Papua New Guinea. Their team includes international and local experts in environmental, health, cultural and social (including human rights) matters, including Bougainvillean experts.
Phase 1 will study acute impacts and risks that may have been caused by the mine, particularly priority areas for communities’ health and safety. These include assessing the stability of aging mine infrastructure and any impacts related to water quality and flooding.
Tetra Tech Coffey made a first visit to the Panguna Mine site in December 2022 to begin the Legacy Impact Assessment which will continue through 2023 with anticipated findings from Phase 1 to be presented to the Oversight Committee in 2024.
The Legacy Impact Assessment will provide all parties with a clearer understanding of the impacts of the Panguna Mine, so that together we can consider the best way forward.
We are committed to acting in line with our external environmental and human rights commitments and internal policies and standards.
The Panguna Mine Preparatory Phase report was a desktop review commissioned by Rio Tinto and the Human Rights Law Centre on behalf of the Panguna Mine Impact Assessment Committee (Committee) to inform priority areas for the upcoming environmental, social and human rights Impact Assessment. The report identified risks of potential failure of the levee at the former Main/Pump station, and potential flooding events along the Kawerong and Jaba river that have been prioritised for further investigation.
Community representatives in Bougainville have been advised of these preliminary findings and the work being undertaken to better understand the risks and mitigations. The Autonomous Bougainville Government (ABG) has contracted Tetra Tech Coffey, who completed the Preparatory Phase report, to complete an on-the-ground assessment. Rio Tinto is supporting the ABG in gathering further data and is funding the assessment.
The Committee has met regularly since its formation in November 2021. The tender process to select a third party to conduct the Impact Assessment is underway and The Committee is expected to select a vendor in September. The Impact Assessment is due to commence on the ground this year and will provide all parties with a clearer understanding of the impacts, so that together we can consider the right way forward.
On 21 July 2021, Rio Tinto and Bougainville community members, represented by the Human Rights Law Centre (HRLC), announced they had reached an agreement to identify and assess legacy impacts of the former Panguna copper mine in Bougainville. This follows several months of constructive discussions facilitated by the Australian National Contact Point (AusNCP).
A joint committee of stakeholders has been formed to oversee a detailed independent assessment of the Panguna mine to identify and better understand actual and potential environmental and human rights impacts of the mine which ceased operating in 1989.
This joint committee, the Panguna Mine Legacy Impact Assessment Committee (Committee), has been established by the Autonomous Bougainville Government (ABG) and the parties to the AusNCP process (Rio Tinto, the HRLC and the community members the HRLC represents). It is chaired by an independent facilitator with representatives from the Independent State of Papua New Guinea (PNG), ASX-listed Bougainville Copper Limited (BCL), as well as landowner and community representatives. The Committee held its first meeting on 30 November 2021.
This is an important first step towards engaging with those impacted by the legacy of the Panguna mine.
In September 2020, the Human Rights Law Centre (HRLC), representing 156 residents of villages in the vicinity of the Panguna mine, filed a complaint with the AusNCP against Rio Tinto. The complaint alleges that Rio Tinto is accountable for significant breaches of the OECD Guidelines for Multinational Enterprises (OECD Guidelines) relating to past and ongoing environmental and human rights impacts allegedly arising from the Panguna mine. The complaint also alleges that, notwithstanding its divestment, Rio Tinto is accountable for remediating these ongoing impacts as it has an ongoing obligation to provide for or cooperate in remediation where it identifies it has caused or contributed to harm. The complainants are seeking commitments from Rio Tinto to:
The AusNCP accepted the complaint and Rio Tinto, HRLC and community representatives have been engaging productively through the ‘good offices’ of the AusNCP since November 2020.
The Panguna mine was operated by Bougainville Copper Limited (BCL), majority-owned by Rio Tinto, for 17 years from 1972 until 1989, when operations were suspended due to an uprising against the mine and a civil war, which lasted until 1998. Rio Tinto has not had access to the mine for over 30 years. In 2016, Rio Tinto transferred its 53.83% majority shareholding in BCL to the Autonomous Bougainville Government (ABG) and the Papua New Guinea (PNG) Government for no consideration, enabling the ABG and PNG to hold an equal share in BCL of 36.4% each. Since that time, stakeholders have continued to raise concerns about impacts to water, land and health. We believe that the Impact Assessment and Committee will provide all parties with a clearer understanding of the impacts, so that we can consider the right way forward in consultation with relevant stakeholders and in line with our external human rights and environmental commitments and internal policies and standards.
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As some data privacy laws regulate IP addresses and other information collected through the use of cookies as personal data, Rio Tinto’s processing of such personal data needs to comply with its Data Privacy Standard (see Part 1 of our Privacy Policy), and also applicable data privacy laws.
With the exception of the use of cookies (explained below), Rio Tinto generally does not seek to collect personal data through this website. However if you choose to provide personal data to Rio Tinto through this website (for example, by sending us an email), we will process that personal data to answer your query and if relevant, to manage our business relationship with you or your company. We won't process that personal data for other purposes except where required to meet our legal obligations or otherwise as authorised by law and notified to you.
Part 1 of this Privacy Policy contains the Rio Tinto Data Privacy Standard, which provides an overview of Rio Tinto’s approach to personal data processing. There is additional information in the appendices to the Data Privacy Standard, including information about disclosures, trans-border data transfers, the exercise of data subject rights and how to make complaints or obtain further information relating to Rio Tinto’s processing of your personal data.
If you choose to subscribe to our media releases or other communications, you can unsubscribe at any time (by following the instructions in the email or by contacting us at digital.comms@riotinto.com).
With your consent, our website uses cookies to distinguish you from other users of our website. This helps us to provide you with a good experience when you browse our website and also allows us to improve our site.
A cookie is a small file of letters and numbers that we store on your browser or the hard drive of your computer if you agree. Cookies contain information that is transferred to your computer's hard drive.
As some data privacy laws regulate IP addresses and other information collected through the use of cookies as personal data, Rio Tinto’s processing of such personal data needs to comply with its Data Privacy Standard (see Part 1 of this Privacy Policy), and also applicable data privacy laws.
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