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Article

6 Feb 2019

Author:
Angela East, Stockhead

Bougainville Copper faces yet another fight to reopen a big PNG mine

6 February 2019

Bougainville Copper's efforts to bring the past-producing Panguna mine back online is again in jeopardy over hasty moves by the Autonomous Bougainville government to make changes to the mining laws.

...[T]hree new bills were introduced to Parliament, including one that would allow a newly formed company to bypass current red tape and go straight to mining any land that is not subject to an existing exploration licence or mining lease.

...Under the new laws, the newly formed Bougainville Advance Mining Limited would be granted a special mining licence without the company even having to seek landowner approval.

Consent from the traditional landowners is required for the issue of any exploration licence on their customary land, a process which has historically escalated to wide-scale political unrest on the island.

...[T]here is strong public opinion against the government's move to change the 2015 Mining Act.

"...Bougainvilleans are becoming a bit distressed about just what it means and why [the government] spent so much time getting a really robust Mining Act put together and then in a very short time have some amendments come through that could strip away a lot of powers of the landowners and the people that actually own the resources,"....

The three new bills are due to be returned to Parliament...for further discussion.

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