Papua New Guinea chiefs call for halt to plan for country's largest ever mine

Locals say the Sepik river region must be protected from exploitation and destruction from outsiders'

Chiefs from 28 haus tambarans - spirit houses" - representing 78,000 people along Papua New Guinea's remote Sepik river have formally declared they want a proposal for the country's largest ever mine halted.

PanAust, an Australian-registered miner ultimately owned by the Chinese state-owned Guangdong Rising Assets Management, has proposed building a gold, silver and copper mine on the Frieda river, a tributary to the Sepik.