PNG court quashes Panguna mine class action against Rio Tinto

Papua New Guinea’s National Court dismissed a multi-billion-dollar class-action lawsuit against Rio Tinto Group and a former unit over damage allegedly caused by the historic Panguna copper mine in the country’s Bougainville region.

The world’s second-largest miner was the majority owner of the Panguna project, which shared it with Bougainville Copper Ltd., until the closure of the mine in 1989 due to an uprising against the project and a resulting civil war that lasted about a decade and killed as many as 20,000 people. Rio disposed of its share of the project in 2016.

“The court has ordered that the proceedings be dismissed,” Bougainville Copper, the current owner, said in a statement to the Australian Stock Exchange, without giving a reason for the decision. Its shares closed more than 18% higher.

The lawsuit consisted of more than 5,000 claimants seeking billions in reparations for the environmental and social damage allegedly caused by the mine, according to a statement in 2024 from the group that helped to coordinate the action.

Panguna was once one of the world’s largest copper mines, but has remained abandoned in recent years, with Bougainville Copper struggling to access the site. Meanwhile, copper prices pushed to a record above $11,000 a ton in 2024, underpinned by rising demand, as well as supply interruptions at other projects in the Americas and Indonesia.

An independent study released last year found ongoing serious contamination to the Jaba-Kawerong river, an unstable tailings dam, and risks of landslides and threats to human life near the site.

Rio declined to comment. Lawyers for the plaintiffs did not return calls.

(By Paul-Alain Hunt)