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Cracks in the Facade of BHP's exit from Ok Tedi Mining Disaster Appear
Indigenous clans who refused to sign the much criticised and disreputed "Mine Continuation Agreements" orchestrated by BHP Billiton to enable its exit from the disaster created by the Ok Tedi mine have brought legal action in Papua New Guinean courts. The clans who have brought the action are a small section of an unknown number of traditional landowners who refused to sign the agreement. According to investigations undertaken by the Mineral Policy Institute there are numerous other clans in villages all along the Ok Tedi and Fly River who also remain outside the arrangements orchestrated by BHP Billiton. According to MPI's field studies there are at least seven entire villages who have refused to be a part of these agreements, and countless more clans inside villages where an indiviual has signed. " The Ok Tedi situation is a can of worms that BHP Billiton would prefer to forget but there are tens of thousands of people along that river system who have been unjustly treated and who continue to seek some adequate resolution to their situation" stated Techa Beaumont, MPI's director, who has undertaken a number of fact finding missions to the region. Research undertaken by Professor Lawrence Kalinoe, the then dean of the University of Papau New Guinea indicated that even those individuals who signed the agreements to allow the mine to continue did not exercise informed consent in the matter. Many of them never recieved a copy of the agreement itself. Research undertaken by the Mineral Policy Institute has also indicated that the predictions of environmental damage, and in particular the possible occurence of acid rock drainage was vastly downplayed in discussions and explanations given to community members as part of these agreements, when compared to the information that the company held at the time. " The arrangements that BHP Billiton put in place allowing its exit are a farce. In reality people were cajouled, pressured and decieved into signing papers that provided minimal recompense for massive scale damage. While there are many people who remain outside these arrangements, there are still more who naively signed documents in circumstances that involved significant unconscionable conduct on the part of the company's involved. Ms BHP Billiton tried to cut and run from their responsibility, but the legacy of this operation is a matter that will not go away and that must be dealt with in a responsible manner." Ms Beaumont stated. The Mineral Policy Institute has continued to call upon BHP Billiton to resolve the matter in a manner that is fair and lives up to their aspirational commitments to corporate social responsibility.
For more information, please contact:
Techa Beaumont
Executive Director
Workphone: +61 2 9557 9019
Mobile: +61 (0) 409 318 406
Created: 22 Jan 2007 | Last updated: 22 Jan 2007
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