Transcript
MARK HITCHCOCK: We have taken the regulator , which is the Bougainville Government, as the Department of Mineral and Energy Resources, to court. We are seeking leave to apply for a judical review of that decision, to not renew the exploration licence.
DON WISEMAN: Your largest shareholder is the ABG, the autonomous Bougainville Government, and you are taking your largest shareholder to court, effectively.
MH: The ABG is a 36% shareholder in Bougainville Copper. The directors need to, and have, taken the action that they felt prudent to protect all the shareholders' interests. We are taking, more so, the regulator to the court rather than the shareholder. It is a fine line but there is a distinction between the two.
DW: So what indication have you received from the people at the top of the ABG about what you should be doing?
MH: At the moment they have just said you have to do what you feel you need to do. So directors have taken that prudent action of protecting all their interests. And we also acting in the best interests of Bougainville and, like, there is value in the company and the proposal that it can put together to redevelop the mine.
DW:You can say that but the indications are and the statement from the President of Bougainville is that BCL has not been granted effectively a 'social licence' by the people there.
MH: Yes and again we have got people on the ground in central Bougainville and down around the mine affected area. We are seeing quite strong support, very strong support for mining and for Bougainville Copper to return.
DW: I do wonder just how well you are reading that information that is coming back to you because there is clearly significant opposition.
MH: There is some opposition and there are other interests that are agitating in the area. There's a minority group or a small number of people that are loud and vocal and unfortunately the landowners are quiet and go about their business in a polite and natural way, and the loudest get heard. And that was with the process of the renewal and the wardens hearing and stuff, the loudest people got heard the most. And that's not necessarily the full majority of the people and the true feeling of the people.
DW: So you have applied for this injunction. How confident are you that you will get it?
MH: It is before the courts. I wouldn't like to be too pre-emptive but we feel that the process was not followed according to the Bougainville Mining Act, and we would just like that to be reviewed, to confirm or deny our strong feeling that we think the process wasn't followed correctly.
DW: Yes. The other company that is very keen on Panguna, RTG, had said that you had your two years in which to undertake the exploration and you didn't do anything in that time so therefore it lapsed. And that is a correct reading of the Bougainville Mining Act isn't it?
MH: No it's not. We have always had the right to apply for an extension, which we did. And we did it on time and we have done that. So we have always had the licence. You know we have always treaded respectfully with both the Bougainville Government and the landowners, and like we were being told by the ABG not to move down and into Central Bougainville and we respected that opinion. So there were delays when we were not able to get access to the area, through just getting the correct authorisations. We have always treated it with respect and we have always wanted to do the right thing and so that's why the two years came and went.
