Tayloring a new Panguna mine for Bougainville: Rio Tinto MD wades into murky waters
Recently, the Managing Director of Rio Tinto’s subsidiary, Bougainville Copper Ltd (BCL), made statements which were breathtaking in their complacency. Arguing that his company’s long-mothballed copper-gold mine at Panguna could easily be re-opened, Peter Taylor declared that: “There was never any toxic material put [into the Jaba River below the mine site].” He was also reported as claiming that: “[G]old and copper were never produced at the mine; only a concentrate.” Referring to accusations that cyanide was used in gold processing at the mine, Taylor added: “[S]o those sorts of chemicals were never used.” The MD’s manifestly self-serving statement was disingenuous, to say the least.
See http://www.minesandcommunities.org/article.php?a=10755.
Sir Rabbie joins BCL
SIR Rabbie Namaliu, who was prime minister of Papua New Guinea at the height of the Bougainville crisis in 1988, has been appointed a director on the board of Bougainville Copper Ltd. Many remember him as the person who ordered the attack on the people of Bougainville who opposed the Panguna mine.
See http://www.thenational.com.pg/?q=node/17423.