Misc data and adventures of a Tayopa treasure hunter

[KANACKI]

Hello Homar

Just one of the many fishing tricks you can learn off the locals the world over. As JB said it mimicks what they like and triggers a feeding frenzy for some reason.

Simon you may be pleased to know old crow is being well behaved these days. Maybe even a contender for sainthood? :-) But every now and again the old pirate comes out in him?

Doc His little lad you can see him following one day in his old dads footsteps? If they do not both get lynched by the me too movement :-)

I spent many a day fishing along the northern coasts of new Britain and new Ireland. There is parts of coast I grew up with local natives that even still. When I visit they treatment like a long lost relative. Years ago when I was about 16 an opportunity came up in Rabaul to buy a small timber sail boat that once owned by a Dutchman. Who had sailed this tiny sailboat all the way to New Guinea from Holland.

Broke and owing money he left the country leaving the boat. It was a single masted sailing boat with a twin keel so in places of low tide she could sit upright on her keel. She had a fore and aft sail. a cabin in the bow with hatch above, a small hand pump toilet shower compartment. A small galley with gas cooking stove, ice box and a galley dining table that folded down into a small double bed. just under the entrance hatchway there was radio and small chart table opposite. More than two people the yacht was cramped. the open bridge was at the rear. She was steered by a tiller. yet there was controls for a small inboard low horse power Perkings diesel engine. The seats on the sides of the cockpit either sat over fuel water tanks while your feet rested on a floor with hatch over the small engine.

She was up on stocks on shore looking rather grotty. She was called " geest van de wind " meaning "
Spirit of the wind" in English. My father looked at and his eyes rolled up and tried to discourage me from buying it. But I just fell in love with it blind to all else. Having saved up enough to by it. It took me nearly whole year to get it seaworthy. I had to clean her hull and repaint it. She under the paint I discovered had a copper hull. At first my only sailing experience was with small catamarans.

Now this was a step up to sailing something like a caravan with sails around it. But it did teach me a lot about sailing. First I used to only sail it during the day around the bay of the caldera Rabaul sits on. I really learned about fickle winds tides and currents back then. I learned to tack and to navigate. I was only later I got more confident to anchor over night. Explore further further away from Rabaul. My side kick was a young man call Tiko. He ever was a gentle giant. The nicest most easygoing person you could meet who loved any chance to got to sea and fish.

No air condition on this little yacht we always sail hatches open and windscoop to force cool air into the cabin. Most cooking was done on the deck. My off sider Tiko was a man mountain he away slept on the deck with a tarp over the boom. Visiting tribes along the coast was amazing experience. While some might of thought to take advantage of this rather young knave white feller. Tiko towered over everyone. His fist could hammer you into the ground like a tent peg, and strong as an ox. Various natives of different villages. You could see it in their eyes look up and up to Tiko with a WTF expression on there faces in awe. He was a man mountain. Generally if you respected the locals they respected you. Culture always dictates you see the village chief and ask permission to land. All creeks and waters are owned by some one.

On our trips we would catch fish take them to inland villages who do not normally have fish. In appreciation they would kill a pig and have sing sing feast. These fishing trips was of freedom my friends. But then reality kicked in. Like with everything in life the everyday need to earn a living. Tiko my big friendly giant of friend had no concept of white mans ways. This need to work? Why he used to ask me? All you need is sea the land and water to nourish you everything else is immaterial. But the world does not stand still, change is inevitable even in Tiko's world changes was afoot. Superstition in his own tribe over his gigantic size had made him an outcast.

I learned a lot from Tiko how to hunt with bows and arrow made with my own hands. How different plants can be used for medicinal purposes. How to make fire. Tiko was a master in his world he lived in. They did not need to know more of the outside world? Their world was far away from the outside world? Yet the outside work was coming to him as the mineral wealth and trees beckoned the hungry eyes of strangers voices there to plunder. Well the time came for me to work and in a parting gift to native friend I gave him my boat “Spirit of the wind:” Tiko made a living supply small villages among the islands for many years. But my love sail boats never waned they just got bigger.

New Guinea in reality is group of independent tribes more loyal to their clan than any concept of nationhood. In reality at time of independence they was a tribal society that tribes people were lucky to travel outside their tribal area. A village 2 km away could speak another language and be totally alien to them. While in New Britain they had been longer under influence of Christianity. But in the interior of New Guinea it was my friend the lost world stepping back thousands of years in time to stone age man.

These was priceless experiences that lay the foundations of an amazing journey my friends well before meeting the rest of trio. And long before the Haka incident. Many people and places and miles have passed since then.

I imagine Jose amigo and Prospectormikel and others that you still have many stories to tell also. Join me in a Coffee?

Kanacki

 

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[Shortfinger]

Thanks, Kanacki. I would be glad to join you in some coffee. That is just the kind of story we were looking for. It is my impression that New Guinea, at least the interior, is still much the same as it was. I have never been there, and probably will never get there, but it is a place I would like to see.

JB

 

[Simon1]

Kanacki and Don Jose, your stories of how you met, interacted, and treated the natives is an inspiration of truly treating people the way you wish to be treated. It is refreshing to hear stories of almost complete opposites meeting and developing a relationship and getting along even when barriers are obvious. You guys, ( and everyone else that posts on "this" thread ), make it an honor and privilege to know and call a friend. I am humbled to be in the presence of those posting on this thread.
Please continue with the stories.

 

[KANACKI]

Thanks, Kanacki. I would be glad to join you in some coffee. That is just the kind of story we were looking for. It is my impression that New Guinea, at least the interior, is still much the same as it was. I have never been there, and probably will never get there, but it is a place I would like to see.

JB

Hello JB, short finger, the following film was shot of tribal war in the highlands in 1963. My father in charge of tribal police tried to stamp out these tribal wars in highlands. He had mixed results.

Years later when the trio was drilling in highlands we came across a Waring party. Their battles are highly ritualized more symbolic than total open warfare. But some do get killed. Truth be told us sophisticated white men kill much more efficiently than these stone age primitive natives ever did. Who go home at dark as they are afraid of ghosts who roam at night. Fear tribal superstition rules here. To see a white feller at night to them frightens them as they think we are ghosts.



You may now begin to understand why the Haka so screwed with their minds as it ties in with there ritualistic way of thinking. Thankfully these ritual tribal wars are much rarer these days.



The more passion the more physiological intimidation to the enemy. Even in a Rugby game you can see the ancient traces of the days of tribal warfare. The Haka was powerful ritual magic. That even the natives of highlands can be bewitched by it and did so back then in that time and place.

Kanacki

 

[Real of Tayopa]

kanaci,
i second th groups enthuasims for your stories. Kanac by some weird reasoning it reminded me of my second trip to the falls of Basaschii N on the river
er,I had crossed over to the Chinapas River canyon and proceeded N through unspoiled canyon country intendihq to camp alone as was my custom - I was used to camping alone, always have. When I arived I found a group of new comers already canped at the foot of the fallls, after initial contact I asked them if thwy were goig fishing - at tha time the ft of the falls were realatively untouched, they replied no, since they had forgotten the poles etc, so I nvited them to a trout dinner. they asked if I was goimg to cut a pole, I replied "no, that I was about to catch their trout dinner with my bare hands and proceeded to just that. After I had produces5 or 6 nice trout
they wanted to know my secret. It's simple, first you have to pecool your hands, then carfully feel under the large rocks for a trou, then slowly move your hand towards his gills, when you are next to his gils you suddenly clamp down and you have you dinner in your handAs long as is at ambient temp. of the water he will at best only move a little bit allowing you to feel for his gills You can quickly clean ouyt a pool. Try that Kanaci hehehe.Incidentally, I think it is about time that you meet me Kanacki --as I ce was.

 

[KANACKI]

kanaci,
i second th groups enthuasims for your stories. Kanac by some weird reasoning it reminded me of my second trip to the falls of Basaschii N on the river
er,I had crossed over to the Chinapas River canyon and proceeded N through unspoiled canyon country intendihq to camp alone as was my custom - I was used to camping alone, always have. When I arived I found a group of new comers already canped at the foot of the fallls, after initial contact I asked them if thwy were goig fishing - at tha time the ft of the falls were realatively untouched, they replied no, since they had forgotten the poles etc, so I nvited them to a trout dinner. they asked if I was goimg to cut a pole, I replied "no, that I was about to catch their trout dinner with my bare hands and proceeded to just that. After I had produces5 or 6 nice trout
they wanted to know my secret. It's simple, first you have to pecool your hands, then carfully feel under the large rocks for a trou, then slowly move your hand towards his gills, when you are next to his gils you suddenly clamp down and you have you dinner in your handAs long as is at ambient temp. of the water he will at best only move a little bit allowing you to feel for his gills You can quickly clean ouyt a pool. Try that Kanaci hehehe.Incidentally, I think it is about time that you meet me Kanacki --as I ce was.

Hello Don Jose I think you would of been at home in mountains of New Guinea amigo? Maybe there is a part of you already there?

There are rivers in the mountains that have never seen a sluice or a gold pan. My old mate Mad Mick can attest to that.





As for meeting up you never know when a fair wind blows, Perhaps we already have amigo? At present I am still in purgatory as there is powers to be that wants a piece of me and the unholy trio the purveyor of secrets , yet they are not quite sure how to bite? We have some thing they would dearly love to get their hands on. That my friends will be on our terms not theirs.

My time here sadly is fleeting. However before that time comes I am happy share a yarn or two and a coffee if time permits?

The winds of change is an unpredictable one my friends but for now the winds blows in our favor so coffee anyone?

Kanacki

 

[KANACKI]

Hello Friends we are what we are?

My early years was straddled between to totally contrasting different worlds. I was taught in missionary school where I one of the few white kids. I was minority my friends so rather closing myself off to reality of world I was in. I embraced both worlds learning the white mans world but also the world of natives tribes and superstitions. New guinea, new Britain and new island stories are told through song and dance. I remember I must of been about 5? when I saw these strange figures canoed across the Bay of Rabaul. The Duc Duc are spirits that live in the volcano comes out on special occasions to collect souls of the dead at funerals. But also figure in stories for young people of tribe that these spirits come to punish those who do not respect their elders. You could imagine old Kanacki at 5 awestruck by these dancing men dressed as these strange ancestor spirits.



The elderly command respect in their culture. In general in tribe they are honored with reverence. A lessen we could learn in our white mans world my friends where many of the elderly become patronized and disenfranchised. The Duc Duc rituals are only preformed by middle aged men in secret society of men who in turn passes on the dances and rituals to the next generations.It is ritual to perform for younger generation who in turn will become selected members of the Duc Duc.

All these experiences my friends was priceless education. Year later where the mining booms started to hit New Guinea, Companies found it hard to employ the natives. they had to develop from being a stone age people to 20th century people in 25 years. They had no sense of safety or work skills many of us take for granted. Hell they did not even understand the concept of toilet paper. S mining companies at first employed many people from Australia, new Zealand, America and Canada. You can imagine the shock to the system from the workers who came from those 21st century places to be plunked back into the stone age. Turn over was massive.Wages was very good if you could handle it. Yet increasing education over the last 40 years has change where many of jobs was had by foreign nationals or ex pats are now in the hands of a small rising middle class with jobs.

But it has come at a very high cost as it has contributed the the social order of tribal law with many of young fleeing to seek their fortunes in towns to end up in squalid slums in towns, sliding into criminal gangs and drugs.

So traveling the big blue pacific ocean my friends there are endless islands all with different stories.The cannibal seas of Melanesia once the realm of cannibalizes, head hunters slavers and odd pirate or two.

Now where that coffee?

Kanacki

 

[Real of Tayopa]

Hello Don Jose I think you would of been at home in mountains of New Guinea amigo? Maybe there is a part of you already there?

There are rivers in the mountains that have never seen a sluice or a gold pan. My old mate Mad Mick can attest to that.

View attachment 1658268



As for meeting up you never know when a fair wind blows, Perhaps we already have amigo? At present I am still in purgatory as there is powers to be that wants a piece of me and the unholy trio the purveyor of secrets , yet they are not quite sure how to bite? We have some thing they would dearly love to get their hands on. That my friends will be on our terms not theirs.

My time here sadly is fleeting. However before that time comes I am happy share a yarn or two and a coffee if time permits?

The winds of change is an unpredictable one my friends but for now the winds blows in our favor so coffee anyone?

Kanacki

Yep ! easy on the Jon Boles.

 

[doc-d]

Señor Kanacki, in South America, the indigenous have their traditions and stories also, many natural medicines and cures that the "modern" world do not understand.
While the traditions and knowledge continue, they are unfortunately, slowly being lost.
Vaya con Dios amigo.

 

[Shortfinger]

Way to go, Guys! A tale from Don Jose, and several from Kanacki. Thanks! The most traffic we have seen on this thread in a long time! Kanacki, I, too would like to cross your path sometime. I may have already done so, as well as Crow's, since I have been in the bar he owns in Australia. If so, at the time, I was not aware I was in the presence of such august persons. I applaud your efforts to learn from and get along with all the people you come in contact with. The world would be a better place if we all followed that example. Everyone, and every culture has something to teach and something to learn. Unfortunately, sometimes the wrong things are taught or learned......

JB

 

[Real of Tayopa]

Kanaci, I raised myself. With a copy of Jack Lomdon in one arm, and a copy of the Illiad in the other, I was prepared to take on the world. WWll gave me the opprtunity to see the last of the open cannnibals in the Solomons, and the rest of the wotld, espedially old, pre, communist China finnished off the Illiad. Naturally I was interested in the details of long mary kai, kai etc. how to barbecue her to perfection - they didn't use the stew pot so huch in the solomons. To me it was a dream come true. Never-the-less I still place the gentle sex on a pedestle, similar to my first military aircraft,
sex on a pedestial, in spite of China, that does not include my pinto mule, she has earned a special place in my heart and memories,

 

[KANACKI]

Hello Don Jose

Good to see you contributing again. I recall an infamous donkey or mule ride over sierras? Must of been an amazing journey?

Doc D yes South America had some amazing myth and legends. And herbal knowledge. I remember once up on altarplano we went to fiesta in a small Andean village that once a year the villager venerate condors. they lure one down capture it and take it back to the village to venerate it over 3 days of feasting and feeding the king condor. It I recall was part of their tribal totem. Even thou they have been Christianized they still practice these rituals. After 3 days with ceremony the bird is released. The belief in nature spirits is still strong in the Andes.

JB You are totally correct my friend. If only we could cherry pick the good things each cultures can contribute. The same culture also have some things in there...er nah

And for that bar. It livened the island up for a time especially when Crow was in charge. It changed from the Marlin bar to known by its nick name the drunken marlin. Letting Crow the old pirate run a bar was like giving letting the wolf mind the sheep! patrons would be coherence into drunken party games. Funnest thing he made them do was get two teams of 10 total strangers to pass a match box cover from nose to nose in race. Then he had twister championships you know the game mat with colored circles on it. We had an pirate party with all the theater once. I arrived with crew in my brig Durmbeat and came ashore with flaming touches beating drums. The local was awestruck even the local police office there to keep the peace was drunk and run amock. the crowd that turned up drank the bar dry and there was near riot. A one stage he was getting most of the patrons from all the licence premises on the island. They go envious and complained. Crow got hit with responsible service alcohol infraction and closing time infractions. In the end it was better to lease out the bar and not pay fines.

Today the bar is quiet selling evening meals a few drinks to watch the sun go down. Technically Crow was fired from his own bar in true pirate fashion. His parties moved down road at beach shanty was legendary. These days he hardly drinks at all. I think he just got over it.

Today the old pirate has been very good now that hes a family man. Almost a saint. Although when prompted his old self reemerges :-)

Kanacki

 

[KANACKI]

Hello Don Jose

The cooking of humans varied from island to island. Most of captives, some time dead or not burned alive in the fire pit. In Polynesia they burn the victim to all the hair was burnt off. So they preferred their meat more tender and raw. In Melanesia they tended to over cook them more. Some cultures killed and dismembered the victim and body parts was take away by various family groups. Others would cook the victim or slow smoke the victim like a pig on a spit. Others would stew their victims in a big pot until flesh fell off the bones.

Meat was precious resource in the out islands they wasted nothing.

I imagine China was an amazing experience. Jack London was favorite of mine also as he lived in footsteps of the people his stories he wrote about.

Kanacki

 

[KANACKI]

Hello Don Jose I imagine you have few stories held back for your book amigo? So I will not pester you.

I Do miss sailing around the Pacific. But the other half has put the hard word on me to put my feet up. As she said it time wind down as we have nothing more to prove. Its hard to settle down especially when you have had an intense life. Being very active in mind and body I try to watch tv. But I confess old Kanacki is behind the times? After ten minutes I become frustrated with crap the talk show hosts come up with. So plastic and artificial. Even lost interest in the movies these days because they all have brilliant special effects but no real story line. Are all movie producers coke snorting narcissists with no sense of story telling?

Some of the best stories I have ever heard is from the most everyday people living humbly in most ordinary lives. Most was by sharing a coffee or beer or rum around a campfire. Those experiences was and still is my friends sheer magic.

I travel occasionally out of my island hideaway but I am finding world these days is losing the power to talk and hold conversation and look people in the eye. It appears many kids of the next generation are growing up ADD and Autism all addicted to short texting half words. Glued to their smart phones. But even more than that its become so mainstream even politicians have become the same. Worried about tweeting and all kinds of crap like that. Worried how many likes they get? I recall recently some one was shocked I was not on Face book? Like if I had committed a crime of sorts for not doing so? Like if I was some heretic challenging status quo of cult of facebook.

When did the world become so enslaved to such devices? When did hairy teenagers become influences taking selfies of themselves tell other people how to live what to eat what to think, with zero life experiences taking photographs of what they eat? When did the day come every life experience that has to be documented on you tube. How has it come to all of this?

When did everyone get so fat from labor saving devices only pay for gym membership?? This is happening all around the world and even now trickling down to remotest corners of the globe.

I am grateful of my refuge. We are in an almost forgotten corner of the Pacific with very simplistic uncomplicated lifestyles. I have not locked my doors for 20 odd years. We have not a murder in 75 years on the island. Pretty good considering the island was once the home of pirates and cannibals. But I do wonder what bad influences technology will bring to the island? Most people are grateful what little they have. There is not in keep up with Jones mode not have been programmed into consumers. Their wants and needs are very simple in this world.

No corporate real estate holidays resorts full of tourists. No collar and tie hear not suits, no traffic jams. No aggro people making crack next door. No TV in your face 24/7 telling you what to eat when to eat, what do do, how to do it. I think how lucky I am when out fishing with most honest simple living people you could meet. I was asked once would you ever move to any of the large modern English speaking countries such as Australia, England America Canada? Hell no.

I have freedom here beyond any monetary value my friends. I used to wonder why did some poorest of the people on earth always had smiles on their faces? Living here with locals on my island I found the answer.

Kanacki

 

[PROSPECTORMIKEL]

Oh Kanacki, you are so right.
There must be armies of people, trying to control the world from their iPhone and storing it all in
(The Cloud).



The question that troubles me the most is, What will these idiots do to the world, as the greatest generation passes into the next life, while the fools that are in control now destroy monuments and a way of life that has built the concrete world on which they walk.

Even our schools are beginning to teach, want, rather than work for!
And, take, rather than build.

I am thankful and happy that I am prepared for my next life, through Christ our Lord. But I worry about my grandchildren and their children.

I am a little envious of your island [emoji267] home.

#/;0{>~

 

[Real of Tayopa]

Kanaci, May have asked why I settled on Mexico ? Well you have seen miles ( kilometers ) of virgin beaches so you know what I mean. the entire west coast, well---almost the


entire west coast was untouched. The almost perfect beaches did not have a bottle, scrap of paper, or one trace of civilation on themon it's beaches. every wverywhanight the turtles came ashore to dig a hole and lay their eggs, the beaches and the land was almost unspoiled. There were no roades and the country was unspoiled, the recent drawn out reveloutuon had killed too many. The sierreas were even more depopulated. I would ride for weeks and never see another person. I could vsit old mining camps only to find them deserted, but the mines carefully kept up to date, just no workers,As an example I visited the Palmarejo mine, while I was there Stranahan of ventures Limitated was there with a chech for $1,000.000 FOR THE MINE. tHE ASSAY OFICE LOOKED AS IF A GRADE SCUOOL HAD BEEN PLAYING THERE FOR A WEEK, THERE WAS BROKEN GLASSWARE EVERYWHERE AND CONFIDENTIAL RECORDS SCATTERED. since IO was Rained in for the summer ,that gave me the excuse i needed to snoop.I was the assayer for a couple of mines..I found the problem. They had on long distance cummunicatiom







i found the origioonal order they had sent to Balwin Locamotive worksin the U and thheir answer.They had sent their spcification to them and their answer, nad agin gtheir answer. " we are appaled,we specified that no part should weigh0ver 125 lbs since everypart han to be packed over two mt ranges, Baldwins answer was quite simple but extremelly arrogont, " if we want advice on how to run a mine we would go to you, if you want a railtoad you come to us, so please do not telll us how to build your engine.






Please do not remark on the typing and spacing. I have been typing for hurs and my eyes need a rest, besides the computer is acting up
that emded the comversatio. The company did not argue, but turned ti Leeds in london locamotive woks which did just as they requested. every part was coded in such simple words thar even an unkilled persom could assemble it, every nut and bolt was simply coded. no wonder they had such a time in running a mine I expect they had an even rougher time in New Guinea

















gnea.now abut you culnary effrts, do you prefer your long pig the polnesion style or the Melenesion style ?/ ///

 

[KANACKI]

Hello PM love the poster.

I could go on but I fear I will stray in politics in which it is not allowed in this forum. The island has its problems too I Could create 1000 jobs catching and processing tuna. On an island whose total population is 6000. you could see what an impact that could make. But the powers to be are more content selling fishing licences to foreign company's who are paying not even a third of economic value of the fishery. But alas my wife reminds me I am retired now. We have done our bit with input into created a bottled water company to create jobs on the island.

I suppose the old adventurer is still part of me. I have always had a can do attitude. We have done many voyages around the Pacific and seen many things. I too worry about the kids and grand kids. Yet my wife reminds me we have done more and beyond what many people do. There comes a time to step aside and let your children be the masters of their own fate. So Kanacki is retired...

I have take up another hobby... I see ProspectorMikel you are a master wood carver. I built my home in rain Forest but nothing as intricate as the wonderful creations you have made my friend.

Kanacki

 

[KANACKI]

Hello Don Jose

It must of been an amazing experience to visit a land so empty of people, victims of revolution It seems to common thing in that part of the word.. Old abandoned mining camps as such. I am always amazed at engineering companys what they can do to make things happen, Especially in the mining industry.

Don Amigo nothing beats a young roast pig on spit cocked slowly crispy on the outside and soft and tender in inside. A nice campfire, good coffee and a good yarn of chin wag.

A Polynesian hungi is not bad either. You have a fire that heats up rocks. you buried meat and fish sweet potato wrapped in banana leaves with hot asH and stones. leave for an hour. Beautiful.

Kanacki

 

[KANACKI]

Hello Don Jose sailing was my passion but my working life was the mining industry. I saw the good and bad outcomes in mining in New Guinea.

Papua New Guinea is a country rich in natural resources and holds large reserves of mineral ores such as gold and silver. The mining sector represents an important source of governmental revenues that contributes substantial shares to the national GDP. The Porgera Joint Venture (PJV) mine, located in Enga province, was the second largest mine in Papua New Guinea and among the ten most productive gold mines worldwide. A positive project but it soured.





The Porgera copper gold mine in Bougainville was sadly to became a nightmare. I am still haunted by the failings I was part of. But the company I worked for had at the time an arrogant crop of pumped up uni students with self importance in management that would not listen to those who had years of experience in the industry. Deaf to all but to the yes men surrounding them.



The cost of gold and copper was an expensive one my friends: The company figured the natives dumb uneducated excuses of humanity and they could do anything they wanted. To save money they failed to develop a tailing dams and copper arsenic overflow flowed down the river destroying the farming and fishing lively hoods of those who lived downstream.



1989 it hit flash point when natives rebelled and attacked the mine. Our illustrious company response was to fly out all executive staff and the families by helicopter. Gave the rest of us two hours notice that we was shutting down and the bougainville rebel army was at the gates. And we had to find our own way home with every man for himself.



There was extrajudicial killings, gang rapes and other depressing human rights abuses as Bouganville slid into civil war between supporters of the mine and those against the mine. They say 15000 - 20000 people was killed in civil war that followed.



New Guinea government sent Papa new guinea Army to recapture the island. That was a disaster and then Nicolas Chan government hire South African Mercenaries. They used Australian supplied 4 bell helicopters with red crosses painted on them who was allegedly donated to Papa New Guinea Defense force for get this "Humanity work". Well you guessed it the PNG Government used the south African mercenaries employed through a company called "Executive outcomes"to kill and destroy rebel villages in form of mini ethnic cleansing.

After all how dare such a rag tag bunch of uneducated stinking natives cut into my companies billion dollar profit margin. Think of all the share holders on wall street with second holiday homes and super yachts they have sell? Hundreds of women children shot burned alive in huts. No one today has ever been held accountable for the atrocities. It was a little stinking little war in a stinking forgotten place no one heard of and no one cared as long as the profits keep flowing in. In the end the company CRA ( nick named Criminal Rouges and A--Holes ) I worked for has so much blood on its hands it changed its name. Today the name of company is called Rio Tinto. And you know who was at the time the biggest shareholder of the company?

The Queen of England.

Kanacki

 

[releventchair]

Bougainville Revolutionary Army fighters look down on the Panguna mine in 1996

An independence referendum and unresolved issues over the rich Panguna copper mine threaten to tilt Papua New Guinea’s tumultuous autonomous island back to civil war

Alan Boyd | Asia Times | December 4, 2018

Foreign mining companies are jostling for exploration rights on the Papua New Guinea island of Bougainville ahead of a crucial independence vote next year that some fear could revive tensions that sparked a civil war that killed 20,000 in the 1980’s.

The island will need mining royalties to maintain a viable economy if the referendum backs independence, but unresolved issues over the Panguna copper mine are still a sensitive point with traditional landowners. Villagers shut the pit down in 1989, triggering the previous lethal conflict.

The referendum is the culmination of the Bougainville Peace Agreement, which formally ended the decade-long bloody civil war. It will take place as the US and Australia aim to work closely with Papua New Guinea to develop its Lombrum Naval Base to counterbalance China’s growing maritime influence in the region.

In January, the Autonomous Bougainville Government (ABG) said that an indefinite moratorium had been imposed on work at Panguna, which was the world’s biggest open-cut copper mine when it was being operated by Bougainville Copper Limited (BCL), a unit of Anglo-Australian mining giant Rio Tinto.

Rio exited in 2016, transferring its 53.8% shareholding to the ABG and the Papua New Guinea government, but there has been speculation the mine could reopen. Papua New Guinea’s government gave its shareholding to traditional landowners in the Panguna area.

“If we went ahead now, you could be causing a total explosion of the situation again,” ABG president John Momis said after the moratorium was declared.

“As far as the people are concerned and as the government, we cannot allow foreign companies to be causing division and using a very emotional situation [on] the ground to cause another war.”

In 1972, there were suggestions of colonialism and commercial exploitation over a decision to grant a mining license to Rio Tinto after minimal consultation with local villagers. Bougainville was then being ruled by Australia under a United Nations mandate that ended with Papua New Guinea’s achievement of independence in 1974.

The Panguna mine effectively underwrote that process: at one point copper from the mine was contributing 45% of Papua New Guinea’s annual export earnings and generating more than US$740 million from tax income and dividends.

But little of this money reached tribal groups; instead, they complained that trailings from the mine were killing their fish and poisoning farmland. In 1989, the Nasioi people broke into the site and shut the mine down.


Autonomous Bougainville Government President John Momis. Photo: Youtube

When Papua New Guinea sent riot police and troops to the island, villagers formed the Bougainville Revolutionary Army, a rag-tag separatist group that plunged the region into a decade-long civil war that left most of its infrastructure in ruins.

A fragile peace was achieved in the late 1990s under monitoring groups led by Australia and New Zealand, but the wounds remain raw. Several tribes maintain “no-go” areas to keep foreign firms out, and the remnants of the BRA, known as the Me’ekamui group, only disarmed this October.

Bougainville, which has closer ethnic links to the Solomon Islands than Papua New Guinea, was granted a limited form of autonomy under a formal 2001 peace treaty. The referendum, tentatively scheduled for June 15 next year, will decide whether the island should become completely independent.

However, it will not happen unless the ANG can find some way to bridge the gap between developers and traditional landowners who fear a repeat of the Panguna fallout.

Rio Tinto left behind an environmental mess of sludge and rusting equipment that some analysts estimate could cost US$1 billion to put right. The firm contends that it has already complied with regulatory requirements.

Momis knows that without mining, Bougainville will stay part of Papua New Guinea, as the island managed to cover only 14% of its total expenditure of US$50 million last year from domestic sources — mostly sales of farm products. It is expected to need a budget three times bigger if it votes for independence.


Resistance fighters from the Bougainville Revolutionary Army (BRA) in a file photo. Photo: AFP/Torsten Blackwood

Leaving the door ajar, Momis has said that the moratorium only covers mining at Panguna, which is inaccessible in any case because of a “no-go” order. A new mining law passed in 2014 clarified the regulatory situation and has attracted interest from firms in Australia, China, Canada and elsewhere.

But there is a catch: the law gave traditional landowners control over minerals on their land and the right to participate in any development decisions that might affect their interests. So the fate of Bougainville’s separatist movement now rests with those who started it in the 1980s.

Landowners that do deals with mining companies will have to face the wrath of neighboring tribes that could bear the consequences of mining. There are strong risks that tensions could boil over even before the referendum.

The wild card in this game of chance is Papua New Guinea, which is not obliged to allow Bougainville to break away even if there is a “yes” vote.

Indeed, it may prefer to keep a tight rein on its renegade region, especially if predictions of a vast untapped treasure of copper, gold and other minerals are realized.