The Autonomous Bougainville Government has welcomed the successful completion and delivery of the final Phase 1 Assessment Report of the Panguna Mine Legacy Impact Assessment (PMLIA) as a step forward in addressing longstanding environmental and social issues stemming from the Panguna Mine.
The report, conducted by independent scientific experts at Tetra Tech Coffey, is the culmination of two years of extensive research into the environmental, social, and human rights impacts of the Panguna Mine since mining ceased in 1989.
In receiving the report, President of Bougainville His Excellency Ishmael Toroama said, “This is a significant milestone for Bougainville, one that helps us move away from the damage and turmoil of the past and strengthen our pathway towards a stronger future,” he said.
“I am especially appreciative of the impacted communities and the Human Rights Law Centre who pushed for this project and for the cooperation offered by the National Government, ABG, local Chiefs, Rio Tinto and BCL to see it through to this stage, despite any doubts and hurdles that arose. To Rio Tinto, I want to say thank you for opening up to this process and giving it genuine attention and input.”
The draft Phase 1 Assessment Report of the Panguna Mine Legacy Impact Assessment (PMLIA) was reviewed by the Oversight Committee in May 2024. This committee, comprising representatives from the National Government, the ABG, community leaders, landowners, BCL, Rio Tinto, and the Human Rights Law Centre, oversees the entire PMLIA process. To ensure the report's technical accuracy, an independent Technical Sub-Committee of five experts conducted a peer review before the findings were shared with impacted communities.
In October 2024, Tetra Tech Coffey presented the draft results to communities throughout Bougainville, allowing community members to provide valuable feedback. This feedback, alongside input from the Oversight Committee and technical reviewers, was incorporated into the final Phase 1 Assessment Report, which has now been completed and released alongside a summary report and brochure.
The report identifies a range of actual and potential environmental impacts including unstable buildings and landforms, mine-related flooding and sediment movement, elevated metal levels in the river system, mine chemicals and metals in the soil around areas that were used for processing or chemical storage and also from waste rock and tailings.
The report describes how the environmental impacts are or may affect the human rights of residents living in these areas. The report presents recommendations for what needs to be remedied to address or mitigate impacts and, noting the complexity of some of these matters, recommends further investigations to address uncertainties in some cases. It does not make recommendations on how the impacts should be remedied.
The delivery of the Phase 1 Assessment Report provides long-awaited answers to questions impacted communities have about their surrounding environment since the cessation of mining at the Panguna Mine. Phase 1 consisted of multiple rounds of community dialogues with impacted communities to answer questions and collate feedback on the PMLIA process.
Chief Secretary of Bougainville, Kearnneth Nanei, spoke to the importance of following through on the recommendations of the report, “ABG is committed to maintaining its participation alongside stakeholders and community leaders in the Oversight Committee which will both oversee and monitor the next stage of efforts which will include remediation and research activities. Furthermore, noting that many of the remediation activities will entail sensitive regulatory and commercial considerations, the ABG is happy to have entered into a Roundtable arrangement with BCL and Rio Tinto to work together, consult with impacted communities, and establish a process to address the actual and potential impacts identified in the assessment report.”
Independent facilitator, Mr. Martin Brash said, “The process of engagement with communities has been a key feature of the PMLIA. Communities have given their consent for the process every step of the way and were active both as participants and advisers to the research. Just last month, we shared the draft results with communities and sought their feedback. As they receive the final report this week, there can be no doubt that no effort was spared in seeking community input and ownership.”
As the final report and corresponding summary documents were delivered to officials, a two-week community engagement campaign has commenced in the impacted areas in Bougainville to let the impacted communities know where they can access the report in both English and Tok Pisin and gain their feedback on the PMLIA process to date.
“The most important thing is that I can see a strong way forward emerging for our people in the impact area” said Chief Blaise Iruinu from the Oversight Committee. “This process has been based on dialogue, empathy and cooperation, now we look forward to continued cooperation and tangible action to addressing the impacts.”
The Panguna Mine Legacy Impact Assessment resulted from a human rights complaint brought against Rio Tinto in 2020 by 156 residents of villages around the Panguna Mine, alleging the mine was causing ongoing adverse environmental and human rights impacts on local people. The complaint sought commitments from Rio Tinto to fund an independent impact assessment of the mine; engage with communities to help find solutions and undertake reconciliation; and contribute to a substantial, independently managed fund to help address harms and assist long-term rehabilitation efforts.
The report is available for download at: http://www.tanorama.com/pangunasecretariat.html#ps_updates
