Bougainville's destructive goldmine could also be its $90 billion key to independence

While Bougainville's Panguna mine was abandoned decades ago, mining has not stopped in the area. "All our sources where we used to get clean drinking water, it's been polluted by the mine, by the tailings," she said. But The Human Rights Law Centre's Keren Adams said, on the ground, there was a "sense of frustration that things aren't moving towards actual solutions". In a statement, a spokesperson for Rio Tinto said the independent legacy impact assessment was "an important milestone in understanding the potential impacts of the Panguna mine". "If the mine opens, the mine is expected to operate for 28 years and it's expected to make returns in excess of $US58 billion … so that's a lot of money there," Mr Wilson said.