New powers strip BCL

 RIO Tinto’s subsidiary, Bougainville Copper Ltd, has been stripped of its mining lease and exploration licences following the transfer of Bougainville Island mining powers from the National Government to the Autonomous Bougainville Government.

The Bougainville mining (transitional arrangements) bill 2014 was passed in the Bougainville House of Representatives last Friday, completing the draw-down of mining powers from the PNG government and leaving the company without its mining leases and licences.

Bougainville Copper Ltd previously warned the draft bill could “adversely affect” its mining rights. The company had held a number of resource tenements in Bougainville, including a special mining lease, various leases for mining purposes and several exploration licences.

It had been eyeing a resumption of mining of the giant Panguna copper deposit after the mine was closed in 1989 following the Bougainville civil war. It spent the first half of this year focusing on the continued engagement of stakeholders with discussions directed towards a potential restart.

Negotiations are expected to continue but Bougainville President John Momis said the decision to cancel the licences came after wide-ranging consultations with the community on Bougainville.

“We have invited them to come and negotiate with us and if they don’t meet our mutually acceptable terms then they are welcome to go,” Momis told Radio Australia.

“The critics are totally wrong – we have stripped Bougainville Copper of all powers,” he said.

“I think (the critics) are being misled deliberately by outsiders who have a vested interest.”

Meanwhile Bougainville Copper chairman and managing director Peter Taylor told Radio Australia: “At this stage there is no decision being made to take legal action.

“But the company is obviously taking advice on what its options are and the possibility of legal action I wouldn’t dismiss although it is not my preferred way of moving forward,” he said.

“My preferred way of moving forward is to negotiate an outcome … with all the parties and try to get a mutually satisfactory result, rather than one of the parties simply changing the ground rules.” – PNG Industry News