ABG to support Mining Act

I have only just started following BOC. I am an Australian living in PNG and over the past few weeks I have been reading plenty of articles in the PNG Post Courier newspaper about the reopening of the mine. The landowners are providing as much friction as they can to prevent the mine opening under the old conditions. They want a large piece of the pie and they want some of the financial benefits of the mine to remain in Bougainville. You might be interested in visiting the Post Courier web page, they have a section on Bougainville that frequently has articles on the mine: http://dev.postcourier.com.pg


ABG to support Mining Act
By WINTERFORD TOREAS


THE Autonomous Bougain-ville Government will be supporting the Bougainville Mining Act that provides resource owners and landowners’ ownership of the mine jointly with the ABG as the representative of the people’s interests. This announcement was made recently by the member for Hagogohe constituency in Buka, Peter Sohia. “This is the official position of the north Bougainville Regional Parliamentary Committee in the Bougainville House of Representatives, and this is how debate on the future of Panguna and mining in Bougainville will be pursued on the floor of parliament,” Mr Sohia said. “The ABG’s position on mining is quite clear. It has to begin initially with the landowners and ABG. “The landowners must give their undivided support and approval, otherwise there will not be mining on a large commercial and industrial scale,” he added. Mr Sohia also warned those inviting foreign businessmen to do business in Bougainville to always consult ABG before entering into dubious and unscrupulous deals with these men at the expense of landowners. “We have seen these deals before and they all stink and are of no interest to Bougainville,” Mr Sohia said.