Thirty years ago the promise made to newly-emerging independent Papua New Guinea was that Rio Tinto'

Thirty years ago the promise made to newly-emerging independent Papua New Guinea was that Rio Tinto's Bougainville copper-gold mine would launch the country - out of the "Stone age"- into a buoyant twentieth century. In fact many Bougainvilleans experience of the project has become synonymous with all that is most divisive and devastating about big mines in tropical rainforests.

The bloody eight year conflict, generated by mineral extraction and profit mal-distribution has come to an end. The following articles focus on what will hopefully be the penultimate steps before Bougainvilleans attain autonomy (at least) and the equitable prosperity of which they were sorely cheated by the mine [Editors, MAC].

The National (Papua New Guinea) 19 Sept 02