Theonila Roka Matbob remembers playing as a child near the edge of what was once the world’s largest open-pit mine — a vast, scarred landscape in Panguna, Bougainville, carved out by a Rio Tinto subsidiary. Today, that mine is a symbol of decades of environmental ruin and human suffering, its toxic runoff still poisoning rivers and farmland. As an Indigenous Nasioi woman and community leader, Roka Matbob has spent years demanding accountability for the devastation left behind — a legacy tied not only to corporate extraction but to colonial-era political decisions that silenced local voices. Her activism culminated in a landmark legal complaint filed in 2020 with Australia’s National Contact Point for Responsible Business Conduct, signed by 156 community members. This effort pressured Rio Tinto into signing a 2024 memorandum of understanding with the Bougainville government to remediate the mine’s damage, including restoring access to clean water. For this achievement, she was awarded the Goldman Environmental Prize, one of the world’s most prestigious honors for grassroots environmental defenders.
Yet Roka Matbob remains deeply skeptical. The same government that agreed to clean up Rio Tinto’s mess has, in late 2025, signed another memorandum — this time with Indian metals company Lloyds Metals — to redevelop the Panguna mine. Alarmingly, there is no waste management plan included in the new agreement. To Roka Matbob, this isn’t progress; it’s repetition. She sees the move as a political cover-up, allowing past harms to be buried under new promises. “For me, it’s like not learning from the past,” she says. “And then they want to reengage, so it’s indirectly saying that ‘We fought, it’s okay, but we will also help Rio Tinto as a government to cover your mess by engaging another company to do that.’” Her words cut to the heart of a broader pattern: communities bearing the cost of extraction while powerful interests move on unscathed.
The Bougainville Civil War, sparked largely by grievances over the Panguna mine, claimed up to 20,000 lives — a trauma still echoing through families and ecosystems. Now, with mining poised to return, Roka Matbob is fighting not just for environmental repair, but for historical truth and community consent. She insists that justice cannot be outsourced or forgotten. Her mission is to ensure the Bougainville story — one of resistance, resilience, and reckoning — is finally heard. As redevelopment looms, her voice stands as a warning: without accountability, the cycle of harm will continue.