high hopes for mine

11.04.2014

Source: Post-Courier

By DAVID LORNIE

MINING company Bougainville Copper Limited is upbeat about prospects of re-opening the controversial Panguna Copper Mine in Bougainville.

The richly resourced mine was the initial cause of the bloody Bougainville Conflict, which claimed thousands of lives.

In the company’s recently released annual report, BCL cites the January visit by Papua New Guinea Prime Minister Peter O’Neill to the Autonomous Region of Bougainville as having "generated a wave of conciliatory sentiment among many stakeholder groupings previously unwilling to declare an end to long held hostilities."

The PM’s visit, a historic event in Bougainville’s continuing peace process, has set in motion events favourable to a potential re-opening of the mine.

Mr O’Neill visited the no-go zone of Panguna and was welcomed with open arms by the breakaway Me’ekamui Government of Unity who control the area with their armed militia, the Me’ekamui Defence Force.

BCL chairman Peter Taylor said, "I believe this highly publicised and widely witnessed event will provide impetus to the Bougainville Copper Bel Kol process and all that is planned to follow."

The company says it is "encouraged by this new spirit of engagement" and "is in closer dialogue with the national Government".

There are planned reconciliation ceremonies to be held this year with the Bougainville people in recognition of the havoc and destruction caused by the previous mine operations.

The first step towards BCL’s proposed reintroduction into Bougainville is a huge and highly significant "bel kol" ceremony planned in Central Bougainville this year. This will be a defining moment for both the company and the people of the Autonomous Region.

Ex-combatants on the ground have long been vocal about their expectations from the mining company and many are still hardliners, having spilt blood and lost fellow fighters during the ten-year war. They will not be easily appeased.