Austrialian mine destroys rivers, global ban urged : The release by Australian mining company Broken Hill Proprietary of reports confirming severe environmental impacts of mine wastes dumped in Papua New Guinea's Ok Tedi River has sparked calls for a global ban of river and sea dumping of mine tailings. The Ok Tedi open-pit mine produces copper and gold. The president of the Washington D.C. based Mineral Policy Center, Stephen D'Esposito, describes BHP's Ok Tedi mine as an "an environmental catastrophe where an entire river system has been destroyed by mine waste."