Rio Tinto reaches agreement to assess Bougainville copper mine impact (updated)

Bougainville Copper

21/07/2021 24:29

(Adds agreement details, background)
    July 21 (Reuters) - Rio Tinto  RIO.AX  said on Wednesday it
has reached an agreement with stakeholders of the Bougainville
community to look into potential environmental damage and human
rights breaches at a copper mine it ran decades ago.
    Community and human rights groups have been pushing the
miner to review issues https://www.reuters.com/article/us-mining-rio-tinto-bougainville-idUKKBN26J218
 around water, land and health arising from the Panguna copper
mine that Rio ran for nearly 20 years till 1989.
    Operations ceased that year after a civil war broke out and
Rio Tinto has not had access to the mine since, the company said
on Wednesday.
    An independent impact report funded largely by the global
miner will be overseen by a joint committee of the company and
various stakeholders, with the parties discussing
recommendations once the assessment is done, Rio said.
    "We take this seriously and are committed to identifying and
assessing any involvement we may have had in adverse impacts, in
line with our external human rights and environmental
commitments and internal policies and standards," said Rio Tinto
Chief Executive Officer Jakob Stausholm.
    The miner in 2016 transferred its 53.8% stake in
Bougainville Copper Ltd  BOC.AX , the company that ran the mine,
to the Autonomous Bougainville government and the Papua New
Guinea government for no amount. 

 (Reporting by Nikhil Kurian Nainan in Bengaluru; Editing by
Devika Syamnath)
 ((NikhilKurian.Nainan@thomsonreuters.com; Twitter:
@NikhilKurianN))