An initial hearing of a class action against mining giant Rio Tinto over the toxic legacy of the Panguna copper mine on the autonomous island of Bougainville has been held in Papua New Guinea.

The lawsuit against Rio Tinto and its subsidiary Bougainville Copper Limited (BCL) is seeking compensation, expected to be in the billions of dollars, for what plaintiffs allege is historic mismanagement of the massive open copper-and-gold mine between 1972 and 1989.

More than 5000 claimants backed by anonymous investors are seeking damages for the destruction that sparked a 10-year-long civil war.

• READ MORE: Other Bougainville and independence reports

The Panguna mine closed in 1989 after anger about pollution and the unequal distribution of profits sparked a landowner rebellion. As many as 20,000 people — or 10 percent of Bougainville’s population — are estimated to have died in the violence that followed between pro-inependence rebels and PNG.

Although a peace process was brokered in 2001 with New Zealand support, deep political divisions remain and there has never been remediation for Panguna’s environmental and psychological scars.

The initial hearing for the lawsuit took place on Wednesday, a day ahead of schedule, at the National Court in Port Moresby, said Matthew Mennilli, a partner at Sydney-based Morris Mennilli.

Mennilli, who is from one of two law firms acting on behalf of the plaintiffs, said he was unable to provide further details as court orders had not yet been formally entered.

A defence submitted
Rio Tinto did not respond to specific questions regarding this week’s hearing, but said in a statement on September 23 it had submitted a defence and would strongly defend its position in the case.

The lawsuit is made up by the majority of villagers in the affected area of Bougainville, an autonomous province within PNG, situated some 800km east of the capital Port Moresby.

At least 71 local clan leaders support the claim, with the lead claimant named as former senior Bougainville political leader and chief of the Basking Taingku clan Martin Miriori.

The lawsuit is being bankrolled by Panguna Mine Action, a limited liability company that stands to reap between 20-40 percent of any payout depending on how long the case takes, according to litigation funding documents cited by the Organised Crime and Corruption Reporting Project.

While the lawsuit has support from a large number of local villagers, some observers fear it could upset social cohesion on Bougainville and potentially derail another long-standing remediation effort.

The class action is running in parallel with an independent assessment of the mine’s legacy, supported by human rights groups and the Autonomous Bougainville Government (ABG), and funded by Rio Tinto.

Rio Tinto agreed in 2021 to take part in the Panguna Mine Legacy Impact Assessment after the Melbourne-based Human Rights Law Centre filed a complaint with the Australian government, on behalf of Bougainville residents.

Legacy of destruction
The group said the Anglo-Australian mining giant has failed to address Panguna’s legacy of destruction, including the alleged dumping of more than a billion tonnes of mine waste into rivers that continues to affect health, the environment and livelihoods.

The assessment, which is being done by environmental consulting firm Tetra Tech Coffey, includes extensive consultation with local communities and the first phase of the evaluation is expected to be delivered next month.

ABG President Ishmael Toroama has called the Rio Tinto class action the highest form of treason and an obstacle to the government’s economic independence agenda.

“This class action is an attack on Bougainville’s hard-fought unity to date,” he said in May.

In February, the autonomous government granted Australian-listed Bougainville Copper a five-year exploration licence to revive the Panguna mine site.

The Bougainville government is hoping its reopening will fund independence. In a non-binding 2019 referendum — which was part of the 2001 peace agreement — 97.7 percent of the island’s inhabitants voted for independence.

PNG leaders resist independence
But PNG leaders have resisted the result, fearful that by granting independence it could encourage breakaway movements in other regions of the volatile Pacific island country.

Former New Zealand Governor-General Sir Jerry Mateparae was appointed last month as an independent moderator to help the two parties agree on terms of a parliamentary vote needed to ratify the referendum.

In response to the class action, Rio Tinto said last month its focus remained on “constructive engagement and meaningful action with local stakeholders” through the legacy assessment.

The company said it was “seeking to partner with key stakeholders, such as the ABG and BCL, to design and implement a remedy framework.”

Copyright ©2015-2024, BenarNews. Republished with the permission of BenarNews.

High in the forested mountains of Papua New Guinea’s Bougainville Island lies an abandoned, kilometer-wide crater cut deep into the earth.

Formerly one of the world’s largest gold and copper mines, the open pit now serves as an unsightly monument to the environmental and social chaos that underground riches can create.

Run for years by a subsidiary of Anglo-Australian giant Rio Tinto, the Panguna mine earned millions for Papua New Guinea (PNG) and helped bankroll its newfound independence. But it also poured waste into local waterways and fuelled anger among locals who felt robbed of the profits.

• READ MORE: Other Pangune mine reports

When an armed uprising ultimately shuttered the mine in 1989, the impoverished island was left reeling.

Nearly three decades later, in late 2022, human rights activists, the local government, and the mine’s former operators joined forces to produce a definitive assessment of the mine’s toxic legacy.

Their report, due to be released later this month, will become the basis for negotiations aimed at getting the mining companies to finally clean up the mess and compensate affected communities.

But its supporters now worry their efforts will be undermined by a class-action lawsuit launched in May against the mine’s erstwhile operators. The legal effort is being championed by former rebel leaders — and backed by anonymous offshore investors who stand to make hundreds of millions of dollars if it succeeds.

Worldwide litigation boom
The lawsuit is part of a worldwide boom in litigation financing that seeks to take multinational companies to task for ecological or social damage while potentially reaping a fortune for lawyers and funders.

Critics in Bougainville worry the lawsuit will reopen old wounds at a time when the island is making a push to break free of Papua New Guinea and become the world’s newest sovereign nation. Many Bougainvilleans are hoping to reopen the mine, using its wealth to fund their own independence this time around.

The region’s government and many local leaders believe the class action could put the mine’s revival at risk. There are also concerns the lawsuit would leave many Bougainvilleans empty handed, while the anonymous foreign investors would walk away with a significant share of the payout.

Unlike the official assessment, which seeks to identify everyone who needs to be compensated, the class action will only share its winnings — which could potentially be in the billions of dollars — with the locals who have signed on. Others will get nothing.

“There’s already fragmentation in the community and families are already divided,” said Theonila Roka Matbob, who represents the area around Panguna in the local Parliament and has helped lead the government-backed assessment process as a minister in the Autonomous Bougainville government.

She speaks from personal experience. The chief litigant in the class-action lawsuit, Martin Miriori, is her uncle. The two are no longer on speaking terms.

A losing deal
Gouged from Bougainville’s lush volcanic heart, the Panguna mine in its heyday supplied as much as 45 percent of PNG’s export revenue, providing it with the financial means to achieve independence from Australia in 1975.

The windfall, however, did not extend to Bougainvilleans themselves. Ethnically and culturally distinct from the rest of PNG’s population, they saw Panguna as a symbol of external domination.

The mine delivered only a miserly 2-percent share of its profits to their island — along with years of environmental havoc.

During the 17 years of Panguna’s operation — from 1972 to 1989 — over a billion metric tons of toxic mine waste and electric blue copper runoff flooded rivers that flowed downstream towards communities of subsistence farmers. The result was poisoned drinking water, infertile land, and children who were drowned or injured trying to cross engorged waterways.

In 1989, enraged Bougainville locals launched an armed rebellion against the PNG government. The mine was shut down, closing off a vital source of revenue for the national government in Port Moresby.

A brutal civil war raged on for nearly a decade, leaving more than 15,000 people dead, while a naval blockade by PNG’s military obliterated the island’s economy.

A peace deal in 2000 granted Bougainville substantial autonomy. But nearly a quarter-century later, the legacy of Panguna and the war it provoked is still deeply felt.

Few paved roads, bridges
There are few paved roads and bridges in the island’s interior. Residents earn a modest living through cocoa and coconut farming, or by unregulated artisanal mining in and around the abandoned Panguna crater.

Rivers polluted by years of runoff are still an otherworldly shade of milky blue.

At least 300,000 people are estimated to live on Bougainville, including as many as 15,000 who live downstream of the mine. Of those, some 4500 have joined Miriori — Roka’s estranged uncle and a tribal leader whose brother, Joseph Kabui, served as the first president of autonomous Bougainville — in seeking restitution through the class-action suit.

“We’ve got to make people happy,” Miriori said. “They’ve lost their land forever, environment forever. Their hunting grounds. Their spiritual, sacred grounds.”

‘Alert to opportunities’
Miriori took many by surprise when he became the public face of the suit filed in PNG’s National Court in May against Rio Tinto and its former local subsidiary, Bougainville Copper Limited.

While the tribal leader and former rebel is a well-known figure in Bougainville, the funders of the lawsuit are not. They have managed to keep their identities secret in part because the company behind the suit, Panguna Mine Action LLC, is registered on Nevis, a small Caribbean island that does not require companies to publicly disclose their shareholders and directors.

Miriori declined to comment on who was behind the company, saying, “I will not tell you where the funding is based … you can source that from our people down there [in Australia].”

James Sing, an Australian based in New York, is Panguna Mine Action’s chief public representative. He initially agreed to an interview, but later referred reporters back to a London-based public relations agency, Sans Frontières Associates.

The agency declined to reveal Panguna Mine Action’s investors.

Litigation funding documents obtained by OCCRP, however, shed some light on the history of the case. The documents show that Panguna Mine Action began to investigate the possibility of a class-action suit as early as July 2021.

The Bougainvillean claimants, led by Miriori, were formally brought into an agreement with the company and its Australian and PNG lawyers in November 2022. The suit was publicly announced this May.

Handsome profit
The lawsuit’s investors stand to profit handsomely from any eventual settlement: Panguna Mine Action is poised to receive a cut of 20 to 40 percent of any payout resulting from the suit, with the percentage increasing the longer the process takes, the funding documents show.

In interviews and statements, both Miriori and Panguna Mine Action have put the potential value of any award in the billions of dollars.

The lawsuit’s financiers defend their substantial share of the potential benefits as standard practice.

“The costs of launching and running the class action against a global miner are significant, and almost certainly could not be met from within Bougainville without funding from an external party,” the company said in its statement.

Panguna Mine Action added it would bear sole responsibility for costs if the lawsuit is unsuccessful.

According to Michael Russell, a Sydney-based class action defence lawyer, such funding arrangements are typical in the burgeoning world of litigation finance, where investors seek out cases that promote virtuous social causes while offering huge potential payoffs.

A similar case is unfolding in Latin America, where more than 720,000 Brazilians are seeking $46.5 billion as part of a gargantuan class action against mining giant BHP and its local subsidiary for their role in a 2015 dam collapse.

In such cases, funders can justify walking away with significant cuts of any winnings because of the substantial risk they face of losing their investment if a case fails, Russell said.

Such cases were rarely initiated at the grassroots level by the victims themselves, he added.

“Most of the time, either the plaintiff firms or the funders will be the catalyst for a claim,” he said. “They are very alert to opportunities.”

Rival restitution plans
Government officials including Miriori’s niece, Roka, say the class-action case, which is due to hold opening arguments in October, threatens to derail the ongoing impact assessment aimed at calculating the full cost of the mine’s environmental impact and developing recommendations for addressing the damage.

The assessment, which counts community members among its stakeholders and bills itself as an independent review, is supported by Australia’s Human Rights Law Centre, which has hailed the project as “an important step” towards rectifying the mine’s devastating impact on thousands of Bougainvilleans.

However, while Rio Tinto and Bougainville Copper are both funding the project, they have not yet committed to paying for any compensation or cleanup. Roka said she was concerned the lawsuit could reduce the company’s willingness to engage with the process, since it could view the assessment as a tool that could be used against them in the courtroom.

Bougainville President Ishmael Toroama backs the impact assessment and has lambasted the class action suit as the work of “faceless investors . . .  taking advantage of vulnerable groups.” (His office did not respond to an interview request.)

He also expressed concern that the court proceedings threaten to “disrupt” his government’s efforts to reopen the mine, which still holds an estimated $60 billion in untapped deposits.

Bougainville’s leaders see the mine as key to securing the island’s economic future as it sets out to form an independent state — a dream that drew overwhelming public support in a 2019 referendum.

Exploration licence
Earlier this year Toroama’s government granted Bougainville Copper a five-year exploration licence for the Panguna site.

The lack of media and polling in Bougainville make it hard to measure public opinion on plans to reactivate the mine, but many locals appear to support reopening it under local control as an essential tool for achieving independence.

Bougainville Copper’s brand is still toxically associated with Rio Tinto and its past abuses, despite the fact that the international mining giant gave away its majority stake for no money in 2016.

The publicly traded company is now majority co-owned by the governments of PNG and Bougainville, and Port Moresby has pledged to hand over all its shares to the autonomous region in the near future.

Panguna Mine Action acknowledges that its effort could stand in the way of the mine’s reopening — but the company says that is a good thing.

“It is our understanding that the people of Bougainville do not wish mining to be recommenced under any circumstances or, alternatively, unless Rio Tinto and Bougainville Copper acknowledge the past, pay compensation and remediate the rivers and surrounding valley,” the company said in a statement.

Rio Tinto declined to comment. Mel Togolo, the chairman of Bougainville Copper, told OCCRP that the lawsuit was the work of “a foreign funder who no doubt is seeking a return on an investment.”

View of the tailings located downstream of the Panguna mine. Photo: OCCRP / Aubrey Belford

‘Only those who have signed will benefit’
The fight over Panguna adds even more uncertainty to long-running anxiety over Bougainville’s future.

With global copper prices soaring on high demand for renewable energy and electric vehicles, the Panguna mine would be an attractive prize for both Western mining companies and firms from China, which is dramatically expanding its influence in the South Pacific.

Since a future Bougainvillean state would be economically dependent on the mine’s revenue, some have raised concerns that control of the mine could become a proxy battle for geopolitical influence in the broader region.

For his part, Miriori expressed little concern that a multibillion-dollar payout might stir resentment by reaching only a fraction of the people affected by the mine’s environmental destruction.

“Only those who signed will benefit,” he said, adding that the opportunity was made “very clear to people” through awareness campaigns.

“Those who have not signed, it’s their freedom of choice.”

Among those who did not sign is Wendy Bowara, 48, who lives in Dapera, a bleak settlement built on a hill of mine waste. Bowara said she is looking to the government-backed assessment, not the lawsuit, to deliver compensation and clean up Panguna’s toxic legacy.

“We are living on top of chemicals,” she said. “Copper concentration is high. I don’t know if the food is good to eat or if it’s healthy to drink the water.”

But while it may seem odd given her grim surroundings, Borawa says she strongly supports reopening the mine.

“It funded the independence of Papua New Guinea,” Bowara said. “Why can’t we use it to fund our own independence?”

Allan Gioni contributed reporting.

Aubrey Belford is the Pacific editor for the Organised Crime and Corruption Reporting project (OCCRP). Republished with permission.

About 4500 Bougainvillean residents now back a lawsuit against mining giant Rio Tinto.

This is an additional 1500 people from the autonomous Papua New Guinea region joining the action since it was filed in May this year.

Bougainville President Ishmael Toroama said the lawsuit was disappointing and was pursued by those people acting against Bougainville’s interests.

• READ MORE: Other Panguna mine reports

The government was not backing it in any way, shape or form, he said.

The claimants are seeking billions of dollars in compensation from Rio Tinto which operated the Panguna copper and gold mine in the 1970s and 1980s before it was forced to shut by civil war.

The mine was at the heart of that war which brought death and devastation to Bougainville over a 10-year period until 1997.

They say Rio Tinto, which was the majority shareholder in Bougainville Copper Ltd (BCL) at the time, is responsible for the large scale environmental and social harm that resulted from what was one of the biggest mines in the world.

A former senior Bougainville political leader, Martin Miriori, who is the lead claimant of the class action, said the “large increase in claimants demonstrates the strength of feeling among local people that Rio Tinto and BCL must make amends for decades of environmental devastation”.

He said “this issue will not go away, as the legal action has attracted strong support, and reminded the world of the destruction caused by the mine operator’s reckless actions.”

A first court hearing is set for Port Moresby on 10 October 2024.

This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.

Last week the Bougainville Autonomous Government announced an agreement had been reach with Panguna landowners to reopen the island’s controversial gold and copper mine.

Once the backbone of the Papua New Guinea economy, Panguna has been idle since the civil war began more than 30 years ago — a war the mine was at least partly responsible for.

But now the leaders of the five major clans in the Panguna area — Basikang, Kurabang, Bakoringu, Barapang and Mantaa — have said they will allow the mine to reopen.

Don Wiseman of RNZ Pacific asked Islands Business specialist writer on PNG Kevin McQuillan about the significance of the decision:

KMcQ: “This is hugely significant. It’s significant for the people of Bougainville, the Bougainville Autonomous Government, the national government, and, dare I say, probably the whole region. But on the other hand, it also creates a huge dilemma for the national government. Panguna was probably the second biggest copper and gold mine in the world, and at one point and accounted for two fifths of Papua New Guinea’s GDP.

“So when it was operating, that was a huge source of income for the national government. But it wasn’t so much of course, for the people of Bougainville, which prompted the 10 years civil war in part. The other element of that civil war, apart from the poor income that the operators gave the people of Bougainville was the environmental damage to the island of Bougainville.”

DW: President Ishmael Toroama has said that being able to open Panguna again is a critical step on the road to independence, in terms of showing economic viability.

KMcQ: “Yes. And that’s reflected also in the fact that there’s been mounting pressure over the last probably 10 or more years for the mine to open because the generations coming through have had very little in the way of food, shelter, clothing, educational opportunities, so on and so forth. And a lot of that pressure to reopen has come from the younger generation, because they want the opportunities that they know exist.

“For the national government it creates the dilemma of having agreed to discuss Bougainville breaking away, but not wanting to break away. What does it do to keep Bougainville within the fold, because the potential income for not just for Bougainville but for the country as a whole is enormous — 42 percent of GDP when it was operating.

“It may not be as much when it does get back up and running, but it will certainly be a significant contributor to the PNG economy. So where [Prime Minister James] Marape and whoever takes over as prime minister, if he loses the election this year, goes with discussions on Bougainville and its independence is hugely significant for the country as a whole.”

DW: This idea that President Toroama has of it being a conduit to independence may in fact work in the other direction.

KMcQ: “Well, it all depends on the negotiating skills really. The other element that comes into play is that BCL — Bougainville Copper Ltd — is now jointly controlled by the Papua New Guinea government and the Bougainville Autonomous Government, through a company called Bougainville Minerals Ltd. They both own a 36.4 percent share in Bougainville Copper.

“Over the past few years there have been promises from the national government to transfer that 36.4 percent shareholding that the national government has to the people Bougainville, which would give it roughly 72 percent shareholding in Bougainville Copper. It’s never happened.

“The national government has held off transferring that money despite the promises that it would do so. And this is going to be a key negotiating point in the future of independence. The national government, of course, does not want Bougainville to go independent. And there are options. There are other options.

“It’s not a binary choice of either independence or not. It could be that the negotiations see the Bougainville area stay within, if you like the parameters of Papua New Guinea, but having a high degree of independence. But whatever that actually means, nobody’s really going to know until the negotiations finish.”

DW: Yes. So the PNG government could hold on to shareholding and still earn from Panguna. Even if it went to this lesser form of independence.

KMcQ: “Yes, it could. But you can really bet your bottom dollar that if the national government holds on to its 36.4 percent shareholding, which was given to it by Rio Tinto, despite those promises, that will be a matter of a court case.”

DW: Now you talk about a lot of people being very keen to see the mine reopened. But there are also many, many people who certainly don’t want to see it reopen.

KMcQ: “They do but what has given this announcement the impetus is that clan chiefs’ representatives from the five major clans from the area have agreed to this resolution to re-open the mine.

“There will always be opposition to reopening the mine. There always has been, even over the last 10 years, when previous president of Bougainville, Fr John Momis, wanted the mine to reopen.

“There was a significant minority. Well, a vocal minority is probably more accurate, deeply opposed to the reopening of mine on environmental grounds.”

DW: With these announcements the minuscule share price for Bougainville Copper has soared.

KMcQ: “Well, it has doubled on news of this announcement. And it means that BCL has a market capitalisation of around about NZ$260 to NZ$265 or NZ$270 million . The point about the doubling of the share prices is the support that it reflects for the re-opening of mine.

“Plus it also, it paves the way for a company to be a little bit more settled in the prospects of the process of reopening the mine. The last valuation that they had to reopen the mine, which was several years ago now, said that it would cost between around about NZ$6 billion to reopen the mine. But over its lifetime, it would earn roughly $75 billion.

“So it’s a high risk, high reward investment. But the fact that this resolution has been made, declared, share prices doubled. It means that Bougainville Copper is probably a lot more confident this week than it was last week that it could go ahead and do some preparatory work for the reopening of the mine, which could take five to seven years.”

DW: They are just eyewatering figures aren’t they?

KMcQ: Well, it shows the potential. I mean this is a mine that was the second biggest gold and copper mine in the world. And there will be a lot of companies, global companies keen to get involved. Rio Tinto has put its fingers into the air and sniffed the wind and it realises that this could finally happen.

DW: You mean Rio Tinto is lining up to to work with its former company?

KMcQ: “Well, it certainly looks that way. In 2016, because of the criticism that Rio Tinto had, or was receiving because of the huge environmental damage that it caused to the Bougainville area, it gave away its mine.

“It had a choice of either fixing up the environment or walking away, as it saw it. So it walked away — gave those shares equally to the Bougainville government and the national government. But now it wants to get back involved.

“And over the last week it has been talking about repairing some of the environmental damage that it caused during the mine’s operation. But there are other companies involved around the world, which could get involved.

“I’m thinking Glencore, the Swiss-based development company could get involved as well. Now, the reason why this is important is because BCL does not have the financial wherewithal to go and reopen the mine at a cost of $6 billion.

“And it’s only gotten roughly NZ$260 million in play. And really, it doesn’t have the expertise to reopen the mine, develop it, run it. It would have to go into partnership with one of the big mining companies Rio Tinto, or Glencore, or somebody else.

“The former president, Sir John Momis, had negotiations or had talked to China about the possibility of a Chinese company moving in and developing the mine. So in the current climate of debate around China’s role in South Pacific, one has to wonder just what impact that might have on the Australian, New Zealand, American governments.”

This article is republished under a community partnership agreement with RNZ.

The dormant Bougainville Copper Limited share value has more than doubled overnight on the Australian Stock Exchange following a resolution to reopen the rich but controversial Panguna copper mine.

Landowners from the mine area and the Autonomous Bougainville Government (ABG) signed a joint resolution last Friday to reopen the mine, causing the leap in its share price.

The ABG’s current 36.4 percent (146,175,449 shares) shareholding was worth K146.2 million (NZ$63 million) when the shares were worth 40 cents each on Thursday.

• READ MORE: Panguna mine at centre of bloody Bougainville conflict set to reopen after 30 years

On Friday afternoon, however, the share value was worth K325.2 million (NZ$152 million) when they increased and closed at 89 cents, a jump of 122.5 per cent.

That is an increase of K179 million (NZ$89 million).

It shows what a little bit of good news and perhaps a demonstration of confidence in Bougainville can do.

ABG President Ishmael Toroama acknowledged and congratulated the five clans and their respective leadership for taking the bold stand to reopen the mine.

Facilitate reopening process
Toroama said that following the signing of the joint resolutions, the ABG through the Department of Mineral and Energy Resources and other relevant departments, would now work together with the landowner groups to facilitate the process towards the reopening.

The ABG government is confident that the mine reopening would be a major boost for Bougainville’s economic future and at the same time guarantee Bougainville’s political independence.

“Today marks the ending and the beginning of a new chapter, a chapter to realize Bougainville’s independence,” Toroama said.

BCL general manager and secretary Mark Hitchcock said the significant increase in the volume of BOC’s securities traded from 10 February 2022 to 11 February 2022 and the article published on the Autonomous Bougainville Government website entitled “Panguna Landowners and ABG agree to reopen Panguna Mine” dated 11 February 2022 contributed to the latter.

“We understand the article published relates to resolutions passed during a Panguna landowner summit that was supported by the ABG,” he said.

“The landowners appear to have agreed to work co-operatively with the ABG to reopen the Panguna Mine.

“According to the article the resolutions were endorsed by the chiefs of the five major Panguna clans and the ABG will now work with landowners to facilitate a process towards reopening.

Fair representation of events
“If the article is a fair representation of the events, then this would appear to demonstrate unity amongst the landowners and, would also boost confidence in the Autonomous Region of Bougainville as it pursues economic independence.

“Bougainville Copper Limited is engaged in investment activities.

The company’s assets include the Panguna mine and associated facilities on Bougainville, and equities listed on the Australian Securities Exchange.

“There is no change in the status of the shareholdings of the Autonomous Bougainville Government (ABG) and PNG shareholdings in BOC.

The PNG government’s commitment to transfer their shares to the ABG remains pending and both governments continue to hold 36.4 percent each of the shares in BOC.

“The judicial review of the ABG’s decision not to renew the exploration licence over Panguna remains in process and we anticipate proceedings to commence in the first quarter of 2022.”

The ABG has a 36.4 percent ownership stake in BCL, which is set to become a 72.8 percent majority share with the PNG national government committed to transferring over its 36.4 percent share.

Active presence on the ground
Hitchcock said BCL had long had an active presence on the ground in Bougainville with a locally engaged team.

It had continued supporting community projects and other initiatives.

Bougainville Copper’s board has strong levels of local representation with four prominent Bougainvillean directors – Sir Mel Togolo, David Osikore, James Rutana and Kearnneth Nanei.

Other board members are Sir Rabbie Namaliu, Sir Moi Avei, Dame Carol Kidu and Peter Graham.

“Over time, BCL has transformed into a truly local company,” Hitchcock said.

Decade-long civil war
Panguna mine was at the centre of a decade-long civil war between rebels in Bougainville and Papua New Guinea security forces, reports The Guardian.

It was once one of the world’s largest and most profitable copper and goldmines and still contains an estimated 5.3 mllion tonnes of copper and 19.3m ounces of gold, which would make the reserves worth about $60 billion at today’s prices.

In 1989, amid rising community anger at the environmental damage and the inequitable division of the mine’s profits, locals forced closure of the mine, blowing up Panguna’s power lines and sabotaging operations.

The PNG government sent in troops against its own citizens to restart the foreign-owned mine, sparking a bloody, decade-long civil war. A peace settlement was brokered by New Zealand in 2001.

Gorethy Kenneth is a senior PNG Post-Courier journalist. This article is republished with permission.

The chairman of Bougainville Hardliners Group and former combatant-turned-businessman, James Onartoo, has called on the Autonomous Bougainville Government (ABG) Police Minister to explain what the Australian Federal Police (AFP) were doing at the site of the controversial Panguna mine last Wednesday (June 5).

According to Onartoo, members of the communities around the mine site became suspicious when they saw the Australian police taking GPS readings at various points around the mine.

These points included the one where the mining company BCL had considered building an airstrip in the early part of the Bougainville crisis to fly in aircraft supposedly to evacuate expatriate mine workers and their families out of Panguna.

READ MORE: Fury in Bougainville over mining amendment go-ahead

“I think the public is owed an explanation as to what is happening. To the best of my knowledge the AFP were ousted in 2007 on suspicions of spying on the ABG and the people of Bougainville by the former President, late Joseph Kabui,” Onartoo said.

“Their presence at Panguna, which is the site of so much controversy and disagreements plus issues of sensitive nature stemming from proposed reopening by ABG, raises serious questions considering the fact that in the past Australia always supported military intervention by the PNG Defence Force to regain control of the mine.

“If AFP can raid the ABC office in Australia itself, then they are capable of anything, including maybe gathering intelligence on ground for the purpose of regaining control of Panguna and restarting the mine with use of force,” Onartoo said.

Onartoo said that it is a well known fact that Australia’s interest in the mineral deposits at Panguna never declined and Australian advisers to ABG have denounced agriculture, tourism, fisheries and other sustainable industries, claiming that only mining is able to finance Bougainville’s independence.

Several companies which are vying to reopen the Panguna mine, which was shutdown by landowners in 1990, are also of Australian origin.

The AFP party, which comprised three policemen and two civilians – including a doctor – were escorted on their visit to the autonomous region by the Bougainville Service Commander, Francis Tokura and police personnel.

They are also said to have visited the proposed border post sites at Koromira and Kangu Beach.

Onartoo said he had nothing to say about AFP visiting other parts of the Autonomous Region.

• Bougainvilleans will take part in a referendum on October 17 to decide their political future.
• More Bougainville stories

A highly controversial proposal by an unknown and newly registered company, Caballus Mining, is attempting to grab a monopoly over all large scale mines in Bougainville, reports PNG Mine Watch.

It is alleged that the Caballus plan is to override the fundamental principle of the Bougainville Mining Act – Customary Landowner ownership of the minerals in Bougainville and confer ownership on a McGlinn entity, Bougainville Advance Mining (BAM).

“Are Caballus the next rogue that is trying to take advantage of us, the customary owners and steal our minerals?” asked Philip Miriori, chairman of the Special Mining Lease Osikaiyang Landowners Association (SMLOLA).

READ MORE: Bougainville mining plan faces outrage

Miriori claimed Caballus had no relevant mine development experience.

“Caballus has no assets, and yet is demanding a monopoly on all major large scale mining projects in Bougainville.

“They are demanding an initial 40 percent interest, which will increase further over time, without any upfront cash and only a shallow promise of future money if he is granted those rights first.”

Miriori said that when Caballus was presented to representatives of SMLOLA earlier last year, they were officially rejected in writing.

Clear position
“This is where it gets confusing as despite that clear position from the owners of the minerals at Panguna, Caballus is now demanding that the most fundamental principle of the Bougainville Mining Act (BMA) – customary ownership will now be stripped from the BMA.”

SMLOLA special adviser Lawrence Daveona said that by avoiding all the protection afforded to them under the BMA, which is fundamental to the Peace Agreement and the Bougainville constitution – “in fact the very grant of autonomy”, they would be stripped of their rights.

“The central tenant of our Peace Agreement is good governance.

“We will fight this to the end and hope our ABG will step in first and protect all customary owners in Bougainville.”

Miriori said it appeared some people were trying to take advantage of a severe funding crisis which their government faced in the lead up to the referendum on Bougainville this year. They were promising money but only if they were first given the keys to every large scale mine in Bougainville with zero up-front investment – “unbelievable”.

“Whoever puts up the money will ultimately control BAM, and all of Bougainville’s mines.”

• More Bougainville stories

The President of the Autonomous Bougainville Government, Chief Dr John Momis, has announced an indefinite moratorium on exploration and mining in Panguna.

He said the Bougainville Executive Council had its meeting on Wednesday made a “thoughtful and considered” decision to impose an indefinite reservation moratorium from any exploration or mining over Panguna in the best interest of the landowners and the people of Bougainville.

The council debating the issue following advice from the Bougainville Mining Advisory Council.

“It is with much regret that the basic requirement for obtaining the landowners consent under the Bougainville Mining Act 2015 could not be met,” Momis said.

The voice of the Panguna landowners was clearly heard during the mining warden hearing that decided in a narrow split between those supporting the mine reopening by Bougainville Copper Limited (BCL) and the opponents.

Dr Momis also said that to develop the mine by any other developer would be “untenable” under current circumstances.

“We will not allow this project once again to reignite the wounds of the Bougainville crisis and distract our focus for restoring peace and our preparation for our referendum in 2019,” he said.

Continued consultations
While imposing this Panguna moratorium, Dr Momis said his government would continue to consult with Panguna landowners and the people of Bougainville over an “appropriate arrangement” or best alternative models of development of the mine if the people still had an appetite to develop the mine in the future.

The Bougainville Civil War was fought in 1988-1998 between Papua New Guinean military forces and secessionist guerrillas of the Bougainville Revolutionary Army (BRA).

The conflict led to an estimated 15,000-20,000 deaths on Bougainville before a peace agreement was brokered by New Zealand in 1998. This led to the establishment of the Bougainville Autonomous Region Government.

Bougainvilleans are due to vote in a referendum on possible independence in June 2019.

• More Bougainville stories

As many would be aware, we Bougainvilleans have been through a tough history with the disasters that came from the past operations at Panguna, then owned by Bougainville Copper Limited (BCL).

One of the key issues that led to our civil war, when around 20,000 of our friends and family died, was the way we were treated by BCL then – entering our lands without consent, poisoning our gardens and lives, removing our mountains, inviting in the military and ignoring our views, without compensating us fairly.

Since the end of the conflict, BCL has made no effort to resolve the damage they caused to our people, lands and rivers – infact they deny any responsibility and are trying to tell us what to do again, calling us impediments when we do not agree with the rules they try and dictate.

Have they learned nothing or think we have forgotten?

We have fought hard to protect ourselves from the same thing happening again if Panguna re-opens, and the new Bougainville mining law transferred ownership of the minerals to the landowners. As a result, now nothing can happen to our minerals without our consent.

Our Special Mining Lease Osikaiyang Landowners Association (SMLOLA) members are now in a position to make BCL, the Autonomous Bougainville Government (ABG) and the world respect our views. One of the key steps in the process of late has been our efforts to protect ourselves from the attempt to force the return of BCL without our consent.

We have had to use the Courts to ensure we are listened too and the result has been a landmark mediation process, right here on our lands at Dapera led by Justice Kandakasi.

Mediation process
The mediation process was initiated by me to try and help resolve the challenge to my leadership of the SMLOLA by Mr Lawrence Daveona, despite the fact he is not following custom in recognising my leadership position, a position I was born into.

He also wants BCL to return despite everything they have done and failed to do, which is strongly opposed by the majority of our members, as demonstrated by the petition against the return of BCL which now stands at around 2000 members saying “No to BCL”.

The mediator has now given us one more opportunity to try and resolve this among our family which I am keen to do. I firmly believe we can all unite to protect our people against the return of BCL and I promise to make every effort to do that with Mr Daveona and the ABG.

I want to work with them to ensure any redevelopment of Panguna is done properly this time and our members are protected and looked after, respected and treated equally and fairly.

The primary objective of the mediation was to try and resolve the challenge to my rightful leadership of the SMLOLA by Mr Daveona, which I firmly believe is unlawful and will take to the courts again if necessary. I am making every effort to accommodate him as unity will have a very valuable benefit for all of us and the future of Bougainville.

One of the other valuable objectives that has come from the mediation and I have committed to work on, is to more closely align our association’s constitution with our Nasioi customs, moving key decisions back to our clan system that has been our way since time immemorial. I strongly support that and encourage everyone to participate as I believe it will assist in making any benefit sharing from a future mine fairer for all.

The mediation over the past few weeks, has also given our women, the owners of our land, the opportunity to stand up and be heard. Some of them are against mining and one of my important tasks will be to work with them further as I believe Independence for Bougainville is very important and mining, if done responsibly and with people who we can trust, who will show us respect and fairness, will enable us to get there quicker.

As part of that process, in my role as the chairman of the SMLOLA and an elder to our clans, I have worked hard to attract a reputable international mining company who has both the social and environmental track record to make sure this time the mine could be developed successfully, fully integrated into our local community.

Revolutionary law
From the time the new transitional mining law was passed in 2014, I worked closely with President Momis and both Mining Ministers, Michael Oni and Robin Wilson. In fact, on the day the law was passed I was invited to meet with President Momis at the ABG Parliament to celebrate the new revolutionary Bougainville Mining Act, which uniquely, gave ownership of the land and minerals, back to the landowners to try and repair some of the mistreatment of our people in the past.

They were then opposed to the return of BCL and supportive of our efforts right through until March this year when suddenly and inexplicably something changed. They would no longer engage with us, would not explain why and started a very public campaign supporting BCL and a challenge of my leadership by Mr Daveona.

I didn’t select RTG Mining Inc. lightly, even going to a mine their management developed in the Philippines with a group of both Panguna landowners and ABG Ministers to see how they do things. In fact, the three ABG Ministers that came to see the RTG operation in Philippines expressed support for RTG.

Over time we came to develop a trust with RTG’s management and believe they will make the redevelopment of Panguna a great success, working closely with our members. They have supported the hard work we have done over the last year to defend ourselves against the illegal return of BCL.

Misled through lies
It is disappointing that some try to mislead through lies. The suggestion that improper payments were made to ABG officials is both ridiculous and untrue. They are currently working against us and strongly pushing BCL and Lawrence, rather than being impartial which is all we ask of them.

Despite the current position of the ABG, we are confident that they will eventually hear our firm views – “No to BCL!” and we remain committed to working with them to find a solution where all will win, including the ABG. We must talk openly and respectfully to find a fair solution. The law and views must be respected and we will continue to fight for that for our members.

The mediation is not a forum to make a final call on who the developer should be and if the mine should be redeveloped, which must be done in conjunction with all our members, but it has been invaluable to be able to showcase the opportunities to highlight the issues and concerns with a possible return of BCL.

In fact, BCL and the ABG have publicly admitted they cannot develop the project themselves and would have to find a partner. Who will that be, why won’t they tell us? How can someone support them when we do not even know who the actual developer will be?

I hope that the discussions at the mediation will assist Mr Daveona to understand why our people would be better off without the return of BCL. And I will continue to work with him to try and reconcile our positions so we can stand united against them and get a far better result for our people, developing a model that is win-win for the people of Bougainville and the ABG.

Phillip Miriori is chairman of the Special Mining Lease Osikaiyang Landowners Association (SMLOLA), Me’ekamui Government of Unity and SMLOLA.

• AGB operating on K360m budget
• Panguna women landowners block mine pact, win court order
• Rio Tinto shares not transferred

By Fabian Hakalits in Arawa

It has been 16 years this week since the signing of an important blue print document that put an end to Bougainville’s civil war in Papua New Guinea.

The Bougainville Peace Agreement paved the way for lasting peace on the war-torn island  following the 10-year conflict which erupted from disputes over the giant Panguna copper mine.

On August 30, 2001, the Bougainville Peace Agreement was signed in Arawa, Central Bougainville.

The agreement between the government of Papua New Guinea and the Autonomous Bougainville Government (ABG) was intended to further the objectives of the Burnham Truce, Lincoln and Ceasefire Agreements – brokered with New Zealand help – and other agreements.

It was aimed to be implemented through consultation and co-operation.

Three pillars of autonomy, referendum and weapons disposal were set as guidelines for the referendum conduct in 2019.

Several delegations from mainland Papua New Guinea visited Bougainville to restore the government’s trust and confidence to the people.

Call to surrender weapons
Among them was Papua New Guinea’s former Prime Minister, Bill Skate, who asked hardliners and warlords to surrender their weapons. This was documented in the Ceasefire Agreement.

Women were at the forefront, negotiating for peace.

The Peace Monitoring Group, comprising security forces from Australia, New Zealand, Vanuatu and Fiji were deployed on Bougainville in 1998. They monitored the peace agreement, reported on ceasefire violations, and supported the peace process and also involved in the weapon disposal programmes.

They withdraw their mission in 2000 in a ceremony at the Independence Oval in Arawa.

The signing of the Bougainville Peace Agreement in 2001 allowed the establishment of the ABG in 2005,with Joseph Kabui elected as the first president of the Autonomous Region of Bougainville.

It was a win-win solution but since 2005 the full implementation of the peace accord has never been realised.

One of the major issues was with the grants owed to Bougainville by the national government.

Outspoken President Momis
Chief John Momis, since elected as president in 2010, has been very vocal on Bougainville issues, especially the grants.

In 2014, Prime Minister, Peter O’Neill paid a goodwill visit to Bougainville.

However, the Joint Supervisory Meeting is another aspect giving value to the Bougainville Peace Agreement.

Since May last year there has been no meeting.

The new Bougainville Affairs Minister and Central Bougainville MP, Fr Simon Dumarinu said the JSB Meeting would be a priority and should be the first item on the agenda as the deadline looms.

Meanwhile, President Momis has reminded Bougainvilleans that the signing of this important blue print document paved the way for a lasting peace on the island.

Fabian Hakalits is Bougainville correspondent for EMTV News. This article was originally published by EMTV News and is republished here with permission.

• More Bougainville stories

By Fabian Hakalits in Buka

Panguna landowners will determine any reopening of the controversial mine on Bougainville, says a local leader.

Philip Miriori, chairman of the Special Mining Lease Osikaiyang Land Owners Association (SMLOLA) in Panguna, Philip Miriori, has told EMTV News that all parties and talks would go through them.

This was because the people in the Special Mining Lease area were greatly affected by the mine’s impacts when it was operating in the 1980s before the 10-year Bougainville civil war.

“We do not want the past to repeat itself but it must be a reminder to us now to get a better deal for the SMLOLA members and the rest of Bougainville,” he said.

Miriori said the past had gone, and history should not be repeated in Bougainville.

He claimed meetings had been conducted with resolutions and agreements passed which the SMLOLA were not a party to.

“They do not speak for me and my people but serve other interests,” he said.

‘Disrespectful’ to landowners
He said this was very disrespectful to the people of the SML area because they had no voice in the decisions that were being discussed by outsiders about their land on which their livelihood depended.

He also highlighted any decision or document signed to reopen the Panguna mine would be in contempt of court.

The court order restrains parties to the memorandum of agreement which was going to be signed in June this year to make Bougainville Copper Limited (BCL) the preferred operator to reopen the mine.

This was because the question of the interests of landowners in the mining project would be an agenda of discussion at the court-ordered mediation in Panguna next month.

Miriori also highlighted that he had the mandate to represent his people through the SMLOLA and the National Court recognises him as chairman and not Lawrence Daveona.

Miriori maintained he was still the SMLPLA chairman until December 2018 when an election of a chairman would be held.

Fabian Hakalits is EMTV News correspondent on Bougainville. EMTV News items are republished by Asia Pacific Report with permission.

They demonstrated in Arawa in central Bougainville and blockaded the route to the derelict Panguna copper mine late last week in a bid to prevent the signing of a memorandum of agreement between the Autonomous Bougainville Government (ABG) and Bougainville Copper Limited, which has disputed ownership of the mine.

The women also succeeded in getting a court injunction against the mine agreement in the National Court in Port Moresby on Friday afternoon.

Llane Munau was there to capture the women’s protest on camera.

• Full story, video

'Women own the land'

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Women in Central Bougainville and landowners of the Panguna copper mine site are opposing the reopening of the mine.

A delegation of Autonomous Region of Bougainville Government (ABG) representatives, who conducted a mining forum in Panguna and Arawa last week, was met with stiff opposition from locals, reports Loop PNG.

In Panguna, Regina Eremari, a landowner who represents the grassroots women of the area, said ABG leaders were not considering the voice of the women.

“We women are the custodians and landowners of the land, not the men. In the past, it was the men who the led and spoilt our land and environment through mining, which resulted in the Bougainville Crisis,” she said tearfully.

“When Bougainville Copper Limited mined our land, we were displaced and placed in settlements, and still live in these settlements today. Our gardening grounds were destroyed.

“Now where will they put us if they want to mine the land again? Because most of us have moved back to where the mining once operated and have made our homes in and around the mining pit area.”

She also called for ABG to be transparent with decisions that involve mining, because Bougainville is still in the early stages of the peace process and there are so many outstanding issues that still have to be dealt with.

In the Arawa forum, women leader Lynette Ona questioned the ABG members present about which landowners they had consulted with to claim that Panguna landowners had agreed to open the Panguna mine under BCL.

“I am a landowner and my land is right in the centre of the Panguna mine pit and no one has consulted with me for my land to be dug up. And my stance is ‘No Mining, No BCL!'”

“BCL is not welcome to come and dig up my land again, never!” she said.

The delegation, led by Vice-President and Minister for Minerals and Energy Resource Raymond Masono and Director Office of Panguna Mine Negotiation Bruno Babato, included Minister for Economic and Trade Development Fidelis Semoso, Minister for Autonomy Implementation Albert Punghau, Minister for Finance and Treasury Robin Wilson, DPI Minister Nicholas Darku, Minister for Education Thomas Pa’ataku, Secretary Department of Minerals and Energy Resources Shedrach Himata and their team.

Papua New Guinea will hold its 2017 General Election from June 24 to July 8.

Bougainville News reported Masono was from the Carteret Islands and is a first term MP in the Autonomous Bougainville Government (ABG) and the Member for the Atolls Constituency and Minister for Public Service.

Prior to his entry into politics, Masono had a distinguished career in the Bougainville Public Service and held several senior positions, including Acting Chief Administrator, Deputy Chief Administrator Policy and Director for Panguna Negotiations.

“I want to express my sincere gratitude on behalf of the Atolls people for the President’s confidence in appointing me as his new Vice-President,” Masono said at the swearing in.

“I accept this appointment with great humility, for me personally it is a great honour to serve as the Vice-President of one of the founding fathers of this nation and I want to assure the President and the people of Bougainville of my undivided loyalty and continued support to the President and ABG,” Masono said.

However, the Bougainville Freedom Movement (BFM) put out a statement condemning the appointment as not helping Bougainville’s independence from mining companies. It said:

“The young and easily influenced [former] Vice-President Patrick Nisira made it clear in March 2016  that the Autonomous Bougainville Government (ABG) knew that the decision on the future of the mining moratorium on Bougainville was a major concern and ‘that there should be wide public debate on the issues involved’.

‘Don’t have the funds’
“This was reiterated again, as stated by Patrick Nisira in his public leture on 28 April 2016 in Canberra.

“Yet in his next breath, Patrick Nisira advised: “But we don’t have the funds necessary for an extensive public awareness and consultation programme.”

“Now, his replacement, Raymond Masono, Director of the Office of Panguna Negotiations, Autonomous Bougainville Government (ABG), who originates from the Atolls, gave a lecture at  the University of Queensland’s “Institute for Sustainable Mining” on 16 December 2014.

“Under the influence of the University of Queensland’s “Institute for Sustainable Mining”, Mr Raymond Masono made it quite clear that, “Alternative Benefit Sharing Modality for a Redeveloped Panguna Mine in Bougainville, PNG”.

“Benefits from a redeveloped Panguna mine must contribute to the overall social and economic development of the all Bougainvillians, not just the mine affected landowners.

“This requires the design and implementation of a benefit sharing modality that ensures everyone shares in the nation’s wealth. The Office of Panguna Mine Negotiations has been established to coordinate the Autonomous Bougainville Government (ABG) and Panguna mine affected Landowners preparations to negotiate the possible reopening of Panguna Mine in the Autonomous Region of Bougainville.

“President Momis, it certainly would be better that you represent your people rather than mining companies don’t you think?, asked the BFM.”

Patrick Nisira will remain as the Member of the Halia constituency until he formally resigns from the Bougainville House of Representatives to contest this year’s general election.

Correspondence seen by Post-Courier from a source close to the Prime Minister states that O’Neill had not met Rio Tinto officials in Port Moresby prior to the share divestment, and there had been no decision by the National Executive Council on the shares.

This comes after Bougainville President John Momis last week slammed what he called “a shady deal between the national government and Rio Tinto”.

Rio Tinto’s decision to transfer the BCL shares would make Papua New Guinea an equal shareholder with the Autonomous Bougainville Government in the company which operated the ill-fated Panguna copper mine.

Last week, Momis said the national government was “deeply involved” in the transfer because:

“Rio officials first advised me of the Rio share decision around 9pm on the night of Wednesday, June, 29.

“But a subsidiary of the National Government, Petromin, accepted the Rio Tinto shares the very next day. I can see no way Petromin could have been ready to jump on June 30 if PNG was not fully involved in Rio’s decision on its BCL shares.

“Yet when I met the Prime Minister to discuss the share issue two days later on Saturday June 30, he said he needed to see the details of the Rio decision.”

The Prime Minister’s assurances that he had not been part of a backdoor deal are backed up by the correspondence sighted by the Post-Courier which went on to state that the NEC would be meeting to discuss their options on this matter.

The communication said the Prime Minister was not aware of any movements of the Petromin board relating to the shares and if there were any, they would be reviewed by cabinet.

Bougainville leaders have been advised to await the return of the Prime Minister next week to negotiate what is hoped will be an amicable outcome.

• Bougainville president, chiefs condemn Rio Tinto ‘conspiracy’ over mine

President Momis today expressed shock and disgust at a “disgusting and shady deal” between the Papua New Guinea national government and Rio Tinto.

He said the national government was deeply involved in Rio Tinto’s decision to transfer 17.4 percent equity in Bougainville Copper Ltd (BCL), making the national government equal shareholder with the Autonomous Bougainville Government in BCL.

Momis also warned the move was a “grave threat” to the Bougainville Peace Agreement.

in a statement published on Bougainville News, President Momis said :

“Rio Tinto officials verbally advised me on Wednesday night of Rio’s decision to transfer its shares to a trust, with 17.4 percent to be available to PNG and 36.4 percent to the ABG.

“The ABG has been aware since 2013 that PNG was proposing to purchase Rio’s 53.8 percent majority equity in BCL.

‘Deeply sensitive’
“I advised the Prime Minister on many occasions that Panguna mine and BCL share issues were deeply sensitive for Bougainville.

“I told him that national government majority ownership in BCL could endanger peace. I expressed the same views to Rio Tinto in meetings in July 2015 and February 2016.

“So I am shocked to find that without consulting the ABG, they have entered a disgusting and shady deal over Rio shares in BCL.

“Making the national government and ABG equal shareholders gives the national government equal power with the ABG over decisions on Panguna. So equal shares is just as offensive as majority PNG ownership.

“This decision is a grave threat to the Bougainville Peace Agreement. The National Government and Rio originally cooperated to force an unjust Panguna mining deal on Bougainville. They [are] now continuing their partnership against Bougainville.

“It is deeply worrying that Rio and PNG are again conspiring against Bougainville in this share deal.”

‘Sweetheart deal’ turned sour
The Meekamui Council Of Chiefs leader, Chris Uma, has called the decision by Rio Tinto to exit Panguna mine as a “sweetheart deal gone sour with one party crying foul”.

Meekamui Council Of Chiefs comprises paramount chiefs from six major clans, who sit on the council and control all traditional land and resources on Bougainville.

The PNG Post-Courier reported the Meekamui statement:

“Meekamui does not recognise or trust ABG to handle any issues regarding land because of past bad decision by politicians that forced the Bougainville crisis.

“The Meekamui council of chiefs believed in the 1948 General Assembly of the UN adopted and proclaimed the Universal declaration of Human Rights.

“Article 17 of the declaration states:

(1) Everyone has the right to own property alone as well as in association with others.
(2) No one shall be arbitrarily deprived of his property.

“We believed that in 1975 when PNG became independent it adopted this rights into constitutional law and prohibits its termination by an ordinary law by Parliament.

‘Stealing our resources’
“Meekamui believe that our land was unlawfully acquired by Australian government for CRA and the 1967 (BCA) Bougainville Copper Agreement may have been rendered defective in 1975 when PNG gained independence.

“Chief Uma said if the above was proven to be true then Rio Tinto or Bougainville Copper Agreement was illegal then the company will be charged for stealing our resources and creating massive environmental damages to our land.”

Uma explained that ABG and the state should not be dragged in to clean up the mess of Rio Tinto but stay our of business, the Post-Courier reported.

“Let me assure my people that I will stop at nothing to correct the wrong and injustice suffered.”

Uma has appealed to the Prime Minister to reject the Rio Tinto deal as a “con deal hacked out to escape corporate responsibity to clean up their mess”.

Uma also announced that the Meekamui Council of Chiefs had appointed a two-man task force team headed by Meekamui Special Envoy John Jaintong and Reuben Siara, the lawyer who filed the court case in the United States against Rio Tinto seeking US$10 billion in damages.

The task force would look into refiling the case at the US courts to make an application to liquidate BCL and BCF and return proceeds to fund projects, and inform the Stock Exchange to deregister the company.

• Rio Tinto cuts Bougainville ties as it exits Panguna mine

Papua New Guinean Prime Minister Peter O’Neill has taken on the portfolio of Bougainville Affairs in his latest cabinet reshuffle.

O’Neill says this is because the autonomous region is a top priority for the government as Bougainville heads towards a referendum on possible independence.

The Leader of the Opposition, Don Polye, queried the motive behind O’Neill giving himself the Bougainville ministry on January 12 in light of the looming vote on a referendum.

Poyle then described the minor reshuffle as “self-serving and not in the best interests of the country”.

Then on January 21, Papua New Guinea opposition MP Sam Basil warned about O’Neill’s interest in the Panguna mine in Bougainville.

In December, O’Neill last month met with the president of the Autonomous Bougainville Region, John Momis, over a reported government proposal to purchase 53 percent of Rio Tinto’s shares in Bougainville Copper Limited.

Momis, whose administration has been in recent discussions with BCL about a possible re-opening of the mine, rejected the proposal.

Buy-up plan denied
The prime minister has since denied that the government is interested in buying in on Panguna.

But Basil says O’Neill’s latest move to appoint himself Minister for Bougainville Affairs is ominous:

“With his actions, in terms of dealing with other mines – Tolukuma and Ok Tedi – I think the people of Bougainville should be very wary of the prime minister’s actions, and they should be very careful on how they allow the prime minister to deal with their mine. So we should be very careful with Mr Peter O’Neill. He has lied to us many times.”

It is very interesting now that the Bougainville President Momis doesn’t mind that Peter O’Neill is Minister for Bougainville Affairs because “the advantage is that the buck stops with Mr O’Neill, so there can be no excuses”.

But O’Neill has already stopped the bucks.

On Decenber 29, John Momis said many millions of dollars were owed to Bougainville under the terms of the peace agreement concluded with PNG in 2001.

In a lengthy statement, Momis said his government estimated that PNG had underpaid Bougainville for the recurrent unconditional grant and owed at least US$33 million, which must be paid immediately.

Tax failures
The president said Bougainville was owed another US$207 million under the Restoration and Development Grant.

Momis said the National Tax Office was also failing to hand over taxes collected in Bougainville.

Is PNG Prime Minister Peter O’Neill and his government holding President John Momis and the people of Bougainville to ransom?

Are Rio Tinto and Bougainville Copper Limited (BCL) influencing the PNG Prime Minister?