In the heart of Bougainville lies Panguna, home to one of the world’s largest copper mines.
President Ishmael Toroama knows he has a limited window to revive the mine and along with it, the hopes of the soon-to-be world’s youngest nation.
Yet precarious waters lie ahead.
Millions of dollars of investment are needed, corruption remains a constant in the fledgling democracy, and the Chinese Communist Party’s interest in the strategically important region is no secret.
What Makes Bougainville So Special?
Panguna mine has sat dormant for nearly two decades, after a bloody civil war erupted in 1988 forcing Rio Tinto to shut the once-massive operation which powered the economy of Papua New Guinea—just north of Australia….