that the landowners, and the Bougainville and PNG governments,...

that the landowners, and the Bougainville and PNG governments, can look forward to.

21.02.2011
Source: The National


BCL stands ready to talk with investors

by SINCLAIRE SOLOMON


BOUGAINVILLE Ltd?s door is open to talks with investors, including the Chinese, about the possibility of reopening the Panguna mine in the Autonomous Region of Bougainville, BCL chairman Peter Taylor said.
?The company has the legal rights to the lease and to the infrastructure, so anybody who is interested in getting involved will have to deal with the company and our door is open to that,? he told a Radio Australia programme.
Taylor was responding to a question by presenter Jemima Garrett that Prime Minister Sir Michael Somare recently had talked privately about the possibility of re-opening the mine with Chinese investment rather than with Bougainville Copper Ltd.
He said he had not been approached about any plan for the Chinese to open the controversial mine in the autonomous region of Bougainville which was closed in 1988 after it became the spark which ignited a 10-year civil war.
Taylor was asked: Does Bougainville Copper have something to worry about in terms of Chinese interests wanting to take over Bougainville copper?
?Well, as I said, there is nothing necessarily wrong with Chinese investment in Bougainville Copper.
?There?s been no formal approach to the company directly from Chinese interests or from Sir Michael or President Momis with a plan to include the Chinese but as I said I am willing to listen to any proposition.
?At the end of the day the investors in the company will have to decide whether they want a partner or not.?
The Chinese already have substantial investments in two upcoming mines in PNG, both in Madang - the K1.3 billion Ramu nickel and cobalt mine and the nearby Marengo Mining copper and molybdenum prospect at Yandera.
Taylor told the radio programme that he wanted to see Panguna landowners and the Bougainville government take an equity stake in the mine, alongside the PNG government and the majority shareholder Rio Tinto.
He said he expected to meet Bougainville president John Momis in Sydney early next month to discuss this.
Taylor said he was confident, from the company?s side, the mine could be re-opened, but added that the ultimate decision rested with the landowners and the Bougainville government.
He told Radio Australia that nothing was off the agenda for talks aimed at reopening the controversial mine in the Autonomous Region of Bougainville.
?My approach is to allow the landowners, or in fact encourage the landowners and the Bougainville government to set the agenda,? Taylor said in an interview with presenter Jemima Garrett.
?I would expect that there would be shared ownership in the mine with the landowners and the government.?
He said he was willing to talk to opponents of the mine as well as supporters.
?I am confident that as far as the company is concerned it can be done (re-opened), that it can be done economically.
?The real issue is whether the landowners at Panguna and the government want the mine re-opened.
On the opposition, he said he did not think any major infrastructure project, whether mining or otherwise, opened without some people objecting to it.
?It is always a balance between what I might just loosely call the economic gain and benefits you can get from these sorts of projects and the social disruption that is inevitable.?
Taylor said his approach to negotiations would be to invite everybody to the table.
?We?ve got quite a way to go in terms of working out the regime under which the mine will re-open.
?As far as Bougainville Copper is concerned, the invitation is there for all interested parties to be there at the table to put their points of view to all of the people around the table and, hopefully, we?ll be able to work out a workable compromise.?




21.02.2011
Source: The National


?Bright future for a revived Panguna?
by SINCLAIRE SOLOMON


A RE-OPENED Panguna mine will produce around 170,000 tonnes of copper a year and half a million ounces of gold.
Given that prices of both metals are high it would be a welcome addition to the Bougainville Copper?s Rio Tinto stable.
BCL chairman Peter Taylor acknowledged this during an interview on Radio Australia, but added that it would be at least three-five years before the mine could be operating again.
He said that a lot depended on the permitting because it was as good as starting again.
?There will be a new regime. I expect by the time it opens Bougainvlle itself will be administering the mining regime, rather than the national government, but none of that legislation is in place yet, none of the regimes there, so its going to take time to do that.
?The company itself will have to do a feasibility study that is acceptable to lenders.
?That typically takes about a year and it? a very expensive process so we don?t want to commit to that until we know what the new mining regime will look like; what the tax regime will be, what the royalty regime will be, compensation and so on.
?We need to have all those in place before we can do that study.
?So while the time frame might be around the three to five year mark, when we get started on it is a question I can?t answer because I am not the only one involved.
?There are the landowners, the Bougainville government and the national government to be considered.?
On the question of what sort of progress Taylor would regard as ?positive? this year, he said it would be formally start the negotiation process.
He said this was feasible, even likely, because the Bougainville reconciliation process was progressing well among the landowners.





21.02.2011
Source: The National


Include Panguna landowners from start


COPPER has hit US$10,000 per metric tonne last week - a new record high, putting pressure on copper producers worldwide to produce maximum tonnage.
Demand for the metal is surging in China and India as both countries expand their infrastructures. Copper miners worldwide, including PNG, are struggling to keep with the insatiable demands for the metal from the heavy industries of the two economies, especially China which is responsible for 35% of global copper consumption. Compare that with Europe, Japan and the United States which, combined, only account for 30% of worldwide demand.
At present rates of consumption, it is expected that copper should top US$5 per pound this year or next year, triple its previous high water mark in 2008.
It makes sense, therefore, that the Bougainville copper mine should be re-opened at the earliest opportunity to capitalise on the booming price for the metal.
BCL chairman Peter Taylor told Radio Australia last week that BCL?s door is open for talks with investors, including those from China, about the possibility of re-opening the mine.
Other proven copper mining prospects such as Wafi in Morobe and Frieda River in East Sepik must be encouraged to move to construction and production at the earliest opportunity.
Economic expansion, which drives commodity prices, always comes in cycles. Boom days are often followed by bust nights so it is best to strategise to capitalise on the boom to prepare for the bust times.
Chinese companies already control some important mining ventures in the country and, with the demand in China, it makes sense to deal with investors out of China to reopen the Panguna mine.
The Autonomous Bougainville Government and Panguna landowner groups are equally anxious to get the mine re-opened to provide much-needed capital to re-grow the Bougainville economy which, today, lies crumbled.
The critical issue is to ensure all parties are engaged in the moves to reopen the mine.
It might well be correct that the company has the legal rights to the lease and the infrastructure, whatever remains and is salvageable, but the company cannot and must not go out on its own to invite and deal with future investors.
The mine lies mothballed today because landowners took exception to what they felt was violation of their rights and neglect by both the company and government.
While, in the end, it will be the company and the state which draw up any agreement that needs to be signed with third parties from outside, it does not hurt to involve landowner groups in extensive discussions now to gauge their needs, their concerns and how they can be involved meaningfully in a future mine.
A re-opened mine must not repeat the mistakes of the first regime and that goes for both company and government at both national and the autonomous region level.
In that regard, it is heartening to hear Taylor say that he wanted to see Panguna landowners and the Bougainville government take an equity stake in the mine alongside the PNG government and majority shareholder Rio Tinto.
These issues are likely to be discussed when Taylor next meets Bougainville President John Momis in Sydney next month.
Taylor was asked: Does Bougainville copper has something to worry about in terms of Chinese interests wanting to take over the Bougainville mine?
?Well, as I said, there is nothing necessarily wrong with Chinese investment in Bougainville copper.
?There?s been no formal approach to the company directly from Chinese interests or from Prime Minister Sir Michael Somare or Momis with a plan to include the Chinese but, as I said, I am willing to listen to any proposition.?
The Chinese already have substantial investments in two upcoming mines in PNG, both in Madang ? the K1.3 billion Ramu nickel and cobalt mine and the nearby Marengo Mining copper and molybdenum prospects at Yandera.
Taylor said he was confident, from the company?s side, the mine could be reopened, but added that the ultimate decision rested with the landowners and the Bougainville government.
He told Radio Australia that nothing was off the agenda for talks aimed at re-opening the controversial mine in the Autonomous Region of Bougainville.
A reopened mine will produce around 170,000 tonnes of copper a year and half a million ounces of gold.
At the kind of prices both metals are fetching, a reopened mine would make a killing. It is expected copper will hit the US$5 per pound mark and gold which is trekking at a high US$1,372 per ounce is expected to trek further towards the US$2,000 mark.
A reopened mine is definitely an event that the landowners, and the Bougainville and PNG governments, can look forward to.