Panguna
Encyclopedia
Town
A town is a human settlement larger than a village but smaller than a city. The size a settlement must be in order to be called a "town" varies considerably in different parts of the world, so that, for example, many American "small towns" seem to British people to be no more than villages, while...
and a (now decommissioned) copper mine
Mining
Mining is the extraction of valuable minerals or other geological materials from the earth, from an ore body, vein or seam. The term also includes the removal of soil. Materials recovered by mining include base metals, precious metals, iron, uranium, coal, diamonds, limestone, oil shale, rock...
on Bougainville Island
Bougainville Island
Bougainville Island is the main island of the Autonomous Region of Bougainville of Papua New Guinea. This region is also known as Bougainville Province or the North Solomons. The population of the province is 175,160 , which includes the adjacent island of Buka and assorted outlying islands...
, Papua New Guinea
Papua New Guinea
Papua New Guinea , officially the Independent State of Papua New Guinea, is a country in Oceania, occupying the eastern half of the island of New Guinea and numerous offshore islands...
. By the end of its operations on May 15, 1989 it was the largest open-cut mine in the world; it was also a major catalyst in the unrest
Unrest
Unrest is a sociological phenomenon, for instance:* Industrial unrest* Labor unrest* Rebellion* Riot-Notable historical unrests:* 19th century Luddites* 1978–79 Winter of Discontent...
in Bougainville in the 1970s and 1980s.
See also
- History of BougainvilleHistory of BougainvilleBougainville is a province of Papua New Guinea. It was named after the French navigator Louis Antoine de Bougainville.-Prehistory:Bougainville has been inhabited for at least 33,000 years...
- Bougainville Copper LtdBougainville CopperBougainville Copper Ltd is an Australian copper, gold, and silver mining company that operates the Panguna open cut mine on the island of Bougainville in Papua New Guinea . It was one of the world's largest open-pit mines. The Panguna mine dominated the economy of the island during the 1970s and...
- Bougainville Revolutionary ArmyBougainville Revolutionary ArmyThe Bougainville Revolutionary Army was formed in 1988 by Bougainvilleans seeking independence from Papua New Guinea .BRA leaders argue that Bougainville is ethnically part of the Solomon Islands and has not profited from the extensive mining that has occurred on the island...