Panguna

The Pangunamine in Central Bougainville, Papua New Guinea was the largest copper mining in the world. By 1989, copper, gold and silver was mainly promoted. It was developed by the Australian mining company Bougainville Copper Ltd.. (BCL ), operated a subsidiary of Rio Tinto Group, based in Port Moresby and Sydney.

History

The Pangunamine was killed on May 15, 1989 for terrorist attacks led by Francis Ona Bougainville Revolutionary Army ( BRA) and uncontrolled closed. The BRA had emerged from a group of landowners of Panguna area. These new landowners of Panguna Community (english New Panguna Landowners Association) had the previous landowners accused of corruption and the mining company environmental exploitation.

In early 2011 the open pit was still closed. Access was controlled by the "Real Me'ekamui ", a splinter group of former BRA, which has declared the mining area to the no - go area.

The six groups of landowners who have agreed to want to participate in negotiations on a revival of Panguna. The Government of Papua New Guinea intends to transfer its 19 percent stake in the autonomous Bougainville Government and the landowners policy.

Environmental damage

The copper treatment caused significant environmental damage associated with toxic Aufbereitungsschlämme. A total of 600 million tons of metallic debris in the river Kawerong were tilted so that 30 km of the river and the entire estuary are contaminated an area of ​​1,800 hectares.