Analysis of the Ok Tedi situation

With legislation presented to the PNG parliament and passed on the same day, PNG has sacrificed its sovereign right to protect its citizens through its legal system, and has passed the power to resolve disputes directly to a company.

It has also agreed to deprive PNG people of their rights to choose their own representatives and allow people, who can be handpicked by a company, to make decisions on behalf of everyone, whether or not the individuals, villages, clans or communities have agreed to this.
Read the full ZNet Commentary

The full legislation and source documents are here>>>

As part of this process Ok Tedi Mining Limited, the company that runs the mine, got villagers to sign legal agreements. These agreements let BHP out of Ok Tedi and pay limited compensation to the communities.

How much margarine is a River worth?

The chart shows how much margarine per month a person can buy for the money from the compensation payments. Find out more >>> Smoking gun files are original documents that show:

• Before the mine started, massive environmental and social damage had been accurately predicted.
• BHP and Ok Tedi Mining environmental studies were under funded, incomplete and inadequate.
• BHP and Ok Tedi Mining actively undermined PNG government processes.

Read them here...

• The final review of Ok Tedi science by BHP and Ok Tedi's 'Peer Review Group' finds substantial problems, increases the expected damage and shows that waste dumping must stop.
  
  BHP and OTML have said none of the options they looked at 'provided a clear path forward'. Read the failures and quotable quotes here >>

• Read a summary and/or full text of the 'leaked' World Bank Report on Ok Tedi
  
  

NEWG is a Papua New Guinea based umbrella group of concerned NGOs (non-government organisations). The letters stand for NGO Environmental Watch Group. Listen to a brief audio introduction to NEWG.

The following documents from NEWG are available here:

• A statement by Papua New Guinea groups "someone has to speak for future generations"
• A letter to PNG's Prime Minister about OK Tedi
• A letter to Australia's Prime Minister about OK Tedi
• An objection to the PNG Minister for Mining about Ok Tedi's application for extension of its exploration licence
• Listen to an audio interview with NEWG member Ursula Rakova about the exploration licence issue.