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http://www.postcourier.com.pg/20070510/thhome.htm


BCL works on plan for Panguna

PORT MORESBY: Bougainville Copper Ltd (BCL) says it is steadily working towards resuming mineral exploration and mining in Bougainville.
Chairman Peter Taylor said yesterday that directors believed the time was right to take advantage of opportunities that might arise on the special mining lease at Panguna and on seven adjacent exploration licence areas.
BCL was forced to abandon mining at Panguna in 1989 after Bougainville secessionist leader Francis Ona and his followers launched a bloody civil war sparked by landowner anger over mine benefits and environmental damage. The conflict dragged on into the 1990s, claiming more than 10,000 lives.
The giant Panguna opencut pit remains within a no-go zone controlled by former followers of Ona, who died of illness in mid-2005. Mr Taylor told shareholders at the company's annual general meeting in Port Moresby that a moratorium on mineral exploration in Bougainville was still in place. But BCL was confident of a good outcome from negotiations with the PNG Government and Bougainville stakeholders over a revised Bougainville Copper Agreement, he said.
Panguna landowners and the new Autonomous Bougainville Government have indicated their willingness to be involved in the process. "I've said for many years now that before we go back into Bougainville we need the relevant landowners to be happy with us going on to their land," Mr Taylor said. "This time around we would want to do it in co-operation with the landowners rather than as a stand-alone venture."
BCL and the PNG Government had agreed to fund the review of the agreement and BCL had engaged technical staff from majority shareholder Rio Tinto to assess optimal mining strategies at Panguna using up-to-date mining software, Mr Taylor said.