Traditional landowners from Bougainville staged a protest on Friday against plans by the region’s autonomous government to let an Indian company reopen the long-shuttered Panguna gold and copper mine.
At least several dozen staged a protest near the mine site in central Bougainville against Autonomous Region of Bougainville (AROB) President Ishmael Toroama’s plans to allow India-based Lloyds Metals and Energy Limited (LMEL) restart the mine, which was shut down by a local uprising over 35 years ago.
Female landowners from the villages of Guava and Moroni led the protest, which involved the ceremonial placement of a plant in the ground.
“To the Lloyds company and BCL (Bougainville Copper Limited) and others, we are planting this as a cultural symbol: we don’t want the Panguna Mine to reopen. This is a cultural ritual to put a stop to the reopening of the mine,” Chieftess Genevieve Ampa’oi said.
The protest comes amid opposition from prominent Bougainvillean community leaders including Domana Ward member and former rebel commander Moses Pipiro. Critics say Toroama has not properly consulted with the local land and resource owners of the Panguna mine site.
Community members have also raised concerns about what they say is the engagement of veterans from other areas of central Bougainville as security for LMEL, which they fear could lead to conflict.
Toroama’s office declined to comment when contacted by Inside PNG.
Experts estimate that tens of billions of dollars of mineral wealth remains in the mine site, but plans to reopen the mine over the years have been stymied by community opposition and deliberations over cleanups and compensation related to environmental damage from the mine’s previous operations.
