Papua New Guinea: Activists welcome OECD's finding of Chinese-owned PanAust's need to seek communities consent on proposed copper & gold mine
"Miner in PNG told it must talk with community, environmentalists", 10 October 2023
Environmental activists in a remote part of Papua New Guinea are celebrating, with a proposed copper and gold mine, which they say had ignored them, now forced to consult with them.
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The Australian National Contact Point on Responsible Business Conduct, which reports to the OECD, found that the company would need to have prior consent from those communities that would be affected, which could include Project Sepik and Jubilee Australia.
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The executive director of Project Sepik, Mary Boni, said the mine is on an earthquake fault line and a principal fear is the tailings dam and what would happen if there was a rupture.
Boni said the analysis the company has on this needs to be made public.
She said if PanAust is genuine then in the 12 months they have to act the first move they will make should be to release the data on a dam breach.
RNZ Pacific has reached out to PanAust for comment.