Read the Initial Statement published by the NCP 25 July 2022: English

Read the Final Statement published by the NCP 3 October 2023: English

On 9 December 2021, Project Sepik and Jubilee Australia Research Centre, an NGO, and another interested party, submitted a specific instance to the AusNCP alleging that PanAust Limited, a copper and gold producer, had not observed the General Policies (Chapter II), Disclosure (Chapter III), Human Rights (Chapter IV), and Environment (Chapter VI) provisions of the Guidelines. Specifically, issues relate to the actions of PanAust Limited and its subsidiary, Frieda River Ltd, regarding the Frieda River Project in Sepik River region of Papua New Guinea. Submitters allege breaches of the Guidelines by failing to respect the rights of Sepik communities to give Free, Prior and Informed Consent (FPIC), failing to address and mitigate environmental risks and impacts from the project, and inadequate disclosure of project information to communities and stakeholders.

Submitters were seeking remedy by asking the company: to pause all project development without FPIC and discontinue plans if it is not obtained, to engage in good faith consultations with communities, and to ensure no reprisals in affected communities.

The AusNCP received further information from the parties and on 25 July 2022 published an initial assessment accepting the case for further consideration. The AusNCP offered its good offices to both Parties, which the enterprise declined. As per the NCP’s case-handling procedures, the specific instance went to examination.

On 3 October 2023, the AusNCP published a final statement, which found that most of the company’s actions were consistent with the Guidelines. The NCP nevertheless recommended:

• the notifiers and the enterprise review their interactions and consider the role and use of meaningful engagement as expected by the OECD Guidelines and other relevant documents;
• the enterprise review the totality of community engagement in relation to the project and ensure that engagement with any Indigenous group from which FPIC is required occurs in a language easily understood by that group;
• the enterprise review internal company procedures regarding FPIC and ensure they are consistent with international standards;
• the notifiers consider using the enterprise’s grievance mechanism to raise their concerns; and
• in future stakeholder engagement in relation to the project, the enterprise include the notifiers, consider the views from the Haus Tambaran the notifiers represent, disseminate the project’s dam break analysis and address potential long term impacts of the mine.

A follow up on the recommendations is foreseen in October 2024.

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