Disaster. Devastation. Destruction.
     These things began for BHP in 1981 when the Ok Tedi Mining Limited company was incorporated. It detailed an Environmental Impact Statement for the Mount Fubilan gold and copper mine that was commenced in that year. We jump from here to a news release from BHP Company Limited dated 11 August 1999, to quote:

      From BHP's perspective as a shareholder the easy conclusion to read,
      with the benefit of these (local PNG) reports and 20120 hindsight,
      is that the mine is not compatible with our environmental values
      and the company should never have been involved.

     By 1982 the Environmental Impact Statement had been completed and approved on the basis of a conceptual design incorporating stable waste rock dumps and a conventional tailings dam. The tailings dam, so vital to BHP's involvement with the Ok Tedi mining work, never came into being. This led to the subsequent enormous environmental disaster surrounding the Ok Tedi and Fly Rivers in Western Papua New Guinea.
     In their Annual Report of 1982 BHP gave details of the investment of $A1.5 billion in the establishment of the Ok Tedi gold and copper mine.