MELBOURNE (Reuters) -Rio Tinto Ltd said on Wednesday it has reached an agreement with stakeholders of the Bougainville community to look into potential environmental damage and human rights breaches at a copper mine it ran decades ago. Community and human rights groups have been pushing the miner to review issues https://www.reuters.com/article/us-mining-rio-tinto-bougainville-idUKKBN26J218 around water, land and health arising from the Panguna copper mine that Rio ran for nearly 20 years until 1989. Around 12,000 – 14,000 people live downstream of the Panguna mine along the Jaba-Kawerong river valley, according to Australia’s Human Rights Law Centre, which represents the communities. Its visit to the mine in 2019-20 documented copper pollution from the abandoned mine flowing directly into the rivers and vast mounds of tailings waste stretching almost 40km downstream to the coast, it said. The miner in 2016 transferred its 53.8% stake in Bougainville Copper Ltd, the company that ran the mine, to the Autonomous Bougainville government and the Papua New Guinea government for no amount.

Source: MetroXpress July 20, 2021 23:00 UTC