21 Nov 2017

BCL confident its Bougainville plans remain on course

From , 4:04 pm on 21 November 2017

Bougainville Copper Ltd, which has just held its second board meeting in Bougainville in 27 years, says it remains on course to resume its mining operation at Panguna.

The company, which is now part owned by the autonomous Bougainville government, was forced out of Bougainville in 1990 by the civil war.

Don Wiseman asked the BCL company secretary Mark Hitchcock what progress is being made in terms of getting back.

But he began by seeking clarification over the former Rio Tinto shares that the Papua New Guinea prime minister, Peter O'Neill, had promised to Bougainvillean landowners.

Mr Hitchcock says the shares are yet to be transferred and efforts are being made to clarify what is going on.

Bougainville's Panguna Copper mine

Bougainville's Panguna Copper mine Photo: Supplied