If you were to fly over the Crown Prince Range of Bougainville, Papua New Guinea you would be soaring above a lush, jade-green tropical rainforest. Amid this verdant expanse, you would see a gaping hole, opening sky-ward and dotted with uncanny-blue waters, looking like a poorly healed flesh wound. This is the defunct Panguna mine and its story is the catalyst for an era of violence and pollution.

Episode Source Material

Paguna mine at centre of bloody Bougainville conflict set to reopen after 30 years by Leanne Jorari

Rio Tinto accused of environmental damage and human rights violations in Bougainville by Natalie Whiting

Biodiversity Hotspots and Major Tropical Wilderness Areas: Approaches to Setting Conservation Priorities by Russell A. Mittermeier, Norman Myers, Jorgen B. Thomsen, Gustavo A. B. Da Fonseca and Silvio Olivieri

Bougainville communities file human rights complaint against Rio Tinto for impacts of mine waste pollution The by Human Rights Law Centre

After the mine: living with Rio Tinto’s deadly legacy by The Human Rights Law Centre

Weaving Consensus: The Papua New Guinea – Bougainville Peace Process by Conciliation Resources in collaboration with BICWF

A development consequence — Disposal of mining waste on Bougainville, Papua New Guinea by M.J.F. Brown

Rio Tinto’s Panguna mine and the history of resistance in Bougainville by Beyond Mining – Protecting Land and Life

The economic causes and consequences of the Bougainville crisis by Herb Thompson

Rio Tinto's billion-dollar mess: 'unprincipled, shameful and evil' by Daniel Flitton

Bougainville starts process to reopen controversial Panguna mine by Catherine Wilson