Each year, Tolukuma Gold Mine – formerly owned by Australian-based Emperor Mines Ltd – dumps more than 230,000 tonnes of mine waste into the Auga-Angabanga river system.
It's a mining practice that's illegal in Australia, but companies can get away with it in Papua New Guinea, and it's destroying people's lives.
Communities living downstream from the mine report that:
- People have become sick or died from drinking and washing in the river
- Fish have died and food gardens have been destroyed, threatening their food supply
- Changes in the river flow have caused flash flooding, making it difficult for locals to cross the river and access their market gardens
"Our people have lived on this land for 2,000 years," says one community member. "We probably now have one of the richest alluvial soils in the country. What happens with the flooding that's coming annually in the rains [is] that richness in the soil is now under threat from the poison from this [river] water. So, this threatens the basis of life in our communities."
The river – once the lifeblood of communities – has become a source of fear. “The way we used to see the river was very clear and we could see the rocks we would cross," says a local from Goro. "Now we … hate the river, and the respect we had for the river we don’t have anymore. It gives us pain and fear that we don’t like the river.”
Women have been particularly affected as they're responsible for collecting water for their families. Women from some villages along the Angabanga River now walk many hours a day to collect water from cleaner streams and wells. This has increased their workload and some feel unsafe as they pass through land belonging to other villages.
