RTG

While the landowner group (SMLOLA) that Philip Miriori purports to represent would be entitled to be more aggrieved than anyone over past events and is an important voice in how the mine is redeveloped, what seems to be clear is that they don't oppose redevelopment (and neither do the other eight landowner groups); just who should do it. That in itself represents enormous progress although unfortunately it has resulted in the current SMLOLA leadership impasse, which is the subject of PNG National Court proceedings.

The connection of RTG to the project is as an opportunist - that's the nature of junior exploration/mining companies and there are no doubt others that Philip Miriori could have enlisted (or vice versa). Central Exploration Pty. Ltd. (CEPL) headquartered in Lane Cove, Sydney (and which RTG has an investment in) is as crudely opportunist as they come and seems (from RTG reports) to have been the conduit for RTG's involvement in Panguna.

Since the mine closure, numerous charlatans and carpetbaggers have swanned past with their opportunistic promises regarding the mine - none of these has come to pass as we sit here 28 years later. Is Philip Miriori's association with CEPL going to prove any more fruitful? Does RTG have the wherewithal and commitment to grind through the long process to a restart?

If the grossly optimistic 3-4 year ("staged approach") restart timetable (that has been claimed by Philip Miriori and which features in comments in this forum) is a central plank of Miriori's support for RTG then he (and RTG) should tell all of us (including importantly the SMLOLA landowners who are signing the petition that we hear so much about) exactly what this staged approach involves.

Of course the fact that RTG does not own the rights to the orebody model (or to other previous operational information) would put them well and truly at ground zero in a development timeline.

But what concerns me most is that in cosying up to Philip Miriori, RTG (registered in the Virgin Islands) is pitting its speculative opportunity against the now almost 70% PNG owned and PNG based BCL which holds the exploration rights and has the support of the ABG and eight of the nine landowner groups (not to mention some proportion of the SMLOLA). Four of its six directors are PNG citizens of some note. This might count for nothing for Phillip Miriori (since he was part of the rebel group in 1989) or for CEPL's Ian Duncan (a mining lawyer, who is banned from entering PNG) but one would expect the board of RTG and its major shareholders to take a more responsible view of the matter.

Do they really think that through their destabilizing support for Miriori they are going to win the hearts and minds of the ABG, the other eight landowner groups, those in the SMLOLA who don't support Miriori, the wider Bougainville community and the National Government? Do they seriously expect to win the right to re-establish the mining operation or is it really just about the share price ...