untold riches

http://www.thenational.com.pg/021309/nation1.php

Great things will happen!!!!!!!!!

The Bougainville leaders said they would meet today in Port Moresby.

A NEW study has revealed that the Panguna mine in Bougainville still holds more riches than what has already been mined and taken out.
The news comes as Bougainville leaders meet in Port Moresby for a Joint Supervisory Body (JSB) meeting to discuss, among other things, the resurgence of violence and tension among different factions on the island.
A re-started Bougainville copper mine could have a longer mine life, and produce more copper and gold, than in the previous 18-year operation of the mine before its closure in 1989.
This potential mining bonanza is revealed as one of the outcomes of a multi-million kina Order of Magnitude study just completed by Bougainville Copper Limited (BCL).
The expert study, based on accumulated drill-core data re-interpreted by modern computer-aided scoping, reveals the massive Panguna deposit to still contain more valuable ore than has already been mined.
The Order of Magnitude study, reported by BCL to the Australian Stock Exchange, said there was an evaluated one billion tonnes of payable ore still within the existing mining lease.
This does not include the upside of copper and gold potentially contained in a further seven unexplored mining tenements adjacent to the Panguna pit.
Industry sources yesterday confirmed that the Panguna deposit, among the world’s five largest copper-gold mines at the time of its forced closure, was likely to be still one of the most valuable mining operations in the world if restarted.
In 1988, the last full year of mining operations, Panguna produced and sold 166,000 tonnes of copper and 445,000 ounces of gold, an output comparable to Ok Tedi Mining Limited in its best years.
But while the Western province project is declining and facing closure within a few years, Panguna might have a mine life extending a further 20 years, if re-started three or four years from now.
The sources said that during the 18 years of productive life in the earlier phase of mining on Bougainville, Panguna had produced around three million tonnes of copper and nine million ounces of gold.
Even these world-class figures could be exceeded if mining were to re-start.
Commenting on the first outcome of the Order of Magnitude study delivered, a BCL spokesman said the study was part of the company’s on-going stewardship of the resource, a duty the company accepted as its responsibility to shareholders and to the people of Bougainville.
Reporting to the ASX, the company said further studies, including a bankable feasibility study, would be needed before a decision on re-opening the mine could be made.
It was not intended to undertake further studies until consultation with Government and landowners results in broad support for redevelopment.
Dialogue with the PNG Government, the Autonomous Bougainville Government (ABG) and landowners was continuing, the BCL report concluded.
The very large resource estimate contained in the report could be regarded as encouraging news to the PNG Government, which is a 19% shareholder in BCL.
Regional MP for Bougainville Fidelis Semoso and ABG president James Tanis would not comment when contacted yesterday, saying they needed to study the report.
The Bougainville leaders said they would meet with the press today in Port Moresby.



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