"Call to pressure Rio Tinto over destruction in Bougainville", 6 May 2006

The Catholic Church on Bougainville and local landowners have called on investors in Rio Tinto to force the company to address the legacy of environmental destruction they say was created by the Panguna mine.

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Australia's Human Rights Centre reported a landowner, John Ibouku, saying pollution from the mine was creating huge problems for people living nearby.

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Father Polycarp Kaviak said...the situation for communities living near the mine was highly dangerous due to the pollution of rivers and the enormous quantities of mine waste which continued to flood villages downstream.

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The Legal Director at the Human Rights Law Centre, Keren Adams, claimed Rio Tinto had a clear legal obligation to help clean up the mine site and shareholders should call on the company to take action.

Rio Tinto has consistently said it has no responsibility for the damage, saying when it operated in the 1970s and 1980s it worked under the relevant legislation of the time.