2018 – Rio Tinto cut and run from the Grasberg / Nemangkawi mine

Rio Tinto seals a deal worth US$3.5 billion (£2.77 billion) to sell out of their production sharing contract for the Grasberg mine in West Papua, which continues to pollute the local ecosystem, posing risks to people’s health, affecting their livelihoods, and causing...

2016 – Once again protests against QMM mine are suppressed

New protests erupt following additional QMM land acquisitions in Mandena. Locals report that leases are once again sold below their value, at just 500 Malagasy Ariary per square metre (about USD 0.15 at the time), against the State Commission approved 3000 Malagasy...

2016 – Rio Tinto cut and run from Panguna

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...

2014 – Rio Tinto refuses to clean up in Bougainville 

The governments of Bougainville and Papua New Guinea start planning how to clean up the severely polluted site of the Panguna mine. Rio Tinto was meant to play a supporting role in this but ends up walking away from the problem and the environmental degradation it...