Rio Tinto should not walk away from Panguna damage - academic

Multi-national miner Rio Tinto can't just walk away from its responsibilities at Bougainville's Panguna mine, says an academic.

The controversial copper mine sparked Bougainville's 10 year civil war, which was partly waged over the environmental and social destruction wrought by the mine.

Bougainvilleans have long sought compensation from the miner Rio Tinto for the damage.

But in 2016 the company gave away its shares to the Papua New Guinea and Bougainville governments, saying the mine was no longer its responsibility.

Academic Volker Boege said that was unacceptable.

"They say, sorry back then we could cause these destructions and we did, and today people still suffer from that, but Rio Tinto says 'not our problem anymore because we are not involved anymore' and I think and others think that's not good enough."