The chief executive of the mining company, BHP Billiton, says the Ok Tedi mine in Papua New Guinea would never have developed under the charter the firm now uses.
The Post-Courier newspaper reports Chip Goodyear as saying Ok Tedi wasn't a development it was proud of.
Mr Goodyear is reported to have told a global business ethics conference in Melbourne that companies with poor track records in sustainable development would have difficulty getting licences to operate in the future.
BHP Billiton's charter adopted in 2001, stated that the company mustn't proceed with development in which tailings from the milling process were dumped into rivers.
BHP Billiton's 52 per cent equity stake in the mine has been folded into a holding company, with future profits intended to fund short-term and long-term sustainable development projects across PNG.
