In Papua New Guinea, locals lodge human rights complaint against Australian miner

In a key development, more than 2,000 people from 60 villages in northern Papua New Guinea have filed a human rights complaint with the Australian administration against developer PanAust, which plans to build the country's largest gold, copper, and silver mine. According to the landowners of the proposed Frieda River mine, on a tributary of the Sepik in New Guinea's northwestern region, PanAust did not take their consent for the said project, The Guardian reported on Friday. PanAust is an Australian-registered miner that is ultimately owned by the Chinese government and is part of state-owned Guangdong Rising Assets Management. The developer is reportedly an 80% shareholder in the project.

Emmanuel Peni, the coordinator of Project Sepik, stated that the failure of PanAust and its subsidiary Frieda River Limited to get consent from the concerned locals violates their rights as Indigenous people. It oversteps their rights to give their prior consent to developments that impact them, according to the British daily. The proposed mine is also said to pose a major risk to populations living along the Sepik River. The complaint was also filed with the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). Local organisation Project Sepik Inc and Australian NGO 'Jubilee Australia Research Centre' filed it on behalf of the aggrieved community members.

Dr Luke Fletcher, executive director of Jubilee Australia, said he hoped the National Contact Point take note of the complaint's legitimacy, possibly by looking at PanAust's environmental impact statement. The complainants claim that the developer has failed to fully examine the project's impact on water catchments. "Those communities have every right to have their voices heard. The Sepik River communities have expressed their opposition to the project, but their worries have thus far gone unheeded," Dr Fletcher was quoted by The Guardian as saying.

The proposed 16,000-hectare mine to produce gold, silver, and copper

It is pertinent to mention here that the proposed 16,000-hectare mine, together with a 1,500-megatonne waste storage dam, would be built in one of the world's most seismically active zones. According to the government authorities, environmental advocacy groups, and people living along the river, the proposed dam is a possible environmental disaster that might wipe out entire towns in the case of a natural calamity. The proposed mine is expected to produce gold, silver, and copper worth an estimated US$1.5 billion each year for the next 30 years or so, the outlet reported.

Image: AP