PNGBLOGS

LIAM FOX There are fears for the safety of three missing landowners involved in a case against a big nickel mine in Papua New Guinea. The lawyer acting for a group of landowners, trying to stop a mine from dumping waste into the sea, says she has not heard from her clients since Sunday afternoon. Tiffany Nonggorr says other people connected to the case have been threatened and bashed. "I'm concerned that they've been hurt or held against their will," she said. In March, the landowners won a temporary injunction preventing the Ramu nickel mine from building a deep-sea tailings pipeline to dump waste into Astrolabe Bay off Madang. A judge was due to begin hearings today to decide whether to lift the ban or make it permanent. Ms Nonggorr says she does not know what the plaintiffs' disappearances mean for the case. "I have absolutely no idea. All we can do is try and locate them," she said. Police say they will be out in force around the courthouse to keep t

LIAM FOX There are fears for the safety of three missing landowners involved in a case against a big nickel mine in Papua New Guinea. The lawyer acting for a group of landowners, trying to stop a mine from dumping waste into the sea, says she has not heard from her clients since Sunday afternoon. Tiffany Nonggorr says other people connected to the case have been threatened and bashed. "I'm concerned that they've been hurt or held against their will," she said. In March, the landowners won a temporary injunction preventing the Ramu nickel mine from building a deep-sea tailings pipeline to dump waste into Astrolabe Bay off Madang. A judge was due to begin hearings today to decide whether to lift the ban or make it permanent. Ms Nonggorr says she does not know what the plaintiffs' disappearances mean for the case. "I have absolutely no idea. All we can do is try and locate them," she said. Police say they will be out in force around the courthouse to