Article layout: raw SYDNEY (AFX) - Bougainville Copper Ltd's (BOC) Panguna copper mine in Papua New Guinea, closed since 1989 because of attacks by secessionist rebels, may be reopened, The Age newspaper reported.
It said PNG mining minister Sam Akoitai is in London for talks with Rio Tinto, the 53.58 pct controlling shareholder of the company which owned the project, about restarting mining on Bougainville Island where the project is located.
The newspaper said Akoitai's meeting with Rio executives is believed to be focused on lifting an exploration moratorium on Bougainville at the very least.
Akoitai is expected to return to Port Moresby on Sunday when a news conference on the matter is planned.
BOC holds seven exploration licenses on the island, but Akoitai has been quoted as saying he is interested in discussing the potential for other mining groups to take up exploration rights.
Before its closure, Panguna's annual production was about 180,000 metric tons of copper in concentrates and more than 400,000 ounces of gold, making it one of the world's biggest single producers of both metals.
The mine, estimated to cost more than 1.5 bln usd to reopen, also had a reserve base of 710 mln tons of ore, averaging 0.4 pct copper and 0.47 grams of gold a ton, or about 10.72 mln ounces.
That is enough for another 15 years of operation, with the island's remaining exploration potential untouched.
The PNG government owns 19.1 pct of BOC and the public 37.3 pct.
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