A community rights advocate who prepared a report citing human rights abuse and health issues in regard to the Porgera gold mine in Papua New Guinea is hitting back at claims it's not factual.
The report was produced by Jeffery Simon for the Porgera Alliance, a group representing landowners near the mine and which is seeking resettlement away from it.
The mine operators, the Barrick Gold Corporation and the Porgera Joint Venture, says much of report's content is wrong.
The operators also say hundreds of households have been relocated.
But Mr Simon says he can see no evidence of this happening outside the special mining zone while he says his sources for data involving health issues and human rights abuses are credible.
"We need an independent investigation team to come and do a good report for us. On all the environmental devastations and all this. In the meantime we are basing on the reports, which have been provided by credible groups."
The Porgera Alliance's Jeffery Simon.
