Rio Tinto divests from the Panguna mine in Bougainville, in essence, cutting and running from their responsibility and the liability of cleaning up their toxic legacy. The company does not consider itself obliged to address the mine’s environmental legacy, arguing that it adhered to Papua New Guinea’s laws during its operations. Rio Tinto thus rejects any responsibility for remedying the environmental, social, health and other legacies of the Panguna mine operations which continue to affect thousands of people.
The Panguna mine’s entire history of displacing and dispossessing local people, dumping toxic waste and thus severely impacting people’s health and livelihoods is noticeably absent from Rio Tinto’s own timeline.
Cut and Run report by LMN