Communities around Rio Tinto's shuttered copper mine in Bougainville face a serious threat of flooding due to unstable mine instrastructure, an interim report commissioned by the mining company said on Monday.
Due to the urgent nature of the threat, a rapid risk assessment will begin in coming weeks by global environmental firm Tetra Tech Coffey, which prepared the report, and will include on-ground inspection to verify the report's findings.
Rio Tinto reached an agreement with the Bougainville community last year to fund an environmental and human rights impact assessment of the Panguna copper mine that it ran until 1989, following a complaint brought by community members who were represented by the Australian human rights group Human Rights Law Centre.
