Soil Sampling in Panguna, Boungainville

In December 2018 Axel Müller/FAKT implemented, together with a local team, a soil sampling and GPS training in Panguna region Bougainville as part of the MISEREOR soil sampling project. Despite the closure of the Panguna mine in 1989, communities still report health and acute environmental problems caused by contaminated water and soil resources. Even though these problems are present, detailed information on the degree of degradation is lacking. In order evaluate the environmental conditions of the mining, more than 120 soil samples were taken in the former mining area, tailings, rivers and at the coast. The samples are now analysed for mineral composition and heavy metal concentration at the Institute of Applied Mineralogy of RWTH Aachen University (City of Aachen) in Germany. Further information will be available soon.