PORGERA, PAPUA NEW GUINEA HIGHLANDS, NOVEMBER 2010: Illegal gold miners prospect at the site of tailing outlet pipe in heavy metal laden waters on the outskirts of the Porgera Joint Venture Mine, Papua New Guinea, Porgera, Papua New Guinea, 17 November 2010. These empoverished people engage in illegal mining on the dumps and tailings outflow areas of the mine in order to survive. Many of these local people sold their land to the mine for a period of the operational life of the mine. They underestimated how long the mine would keep going and the expansion thereof. The Mine dumps now flow onto the last viable land of these local people and they illegally mine those dumps to eke out a living. The ability to grow vegetable gardens is very limited and there is no hunting anymore. There are regular clashes between these illegal miners and the Porgera Joint Venture mine security force. That security force has regularly beaten, detained and handed these miners over to the police. When the illegal female miners are caught they are often offered a choice of rape or jail. There are a number of reported incidents of gang rape, with the victims too scared to file charges in court. The mine finances both its own security force of ex policeman and military as well as the local PNG government police who they have brought to the area. The environmental damage caused by the Porega Mine is a major threat to this landscape and the wellbeing of the local people who have lived in harmony with their environment for centuries. The Porgera Joint Venture Mine dumps 6.2 million tons of tailings sediment into the local river system every year. Close to the mine the waters are red from these tailings and it is feared that long term damage of the river system is inevitable. (Photo by Brent Stirton/Reportage for Human Rights Watch.)

mercurio impiegato in una miniera d’oro