{"id":1155048,"date":"2019-12-11T17:27:25","date_gmt":"2019-12-11T23:27:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.mining.com\/?p=1009040"},"modified":"2019-12-11T17:27:25","modified_gmt":"2019-12-11T23:27:25","slug":"bougainville-independence-could-revive-one-of-worlds-biggest-copper-mines","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/juniorminingnews.com\/?p=1155048","title":{"rendered":"Bougainville independence could revive one of world\u2019s biggest copper mines"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The results from the <a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" aria-label=\"Bougainville Referendum Commision (opens in a new tab)\" href=\"http:\/\/dpa.bellschool.anu.edu.au\/sites\/default\/files\/publications\/attachments\/2019-09\/the_bougainville_referendum_low_res_1.pdf\" >Bougainville Referendum Commission<\/a> attracted\u00a0over 181,000 voters (the island nation&#8217;s population was\u00a0249,358 at the last count) and on Wednesday an overwhelming 98% voted to gain\u00a0independence from Papua New Guinea. \u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n<div class='d-flex justify-content-center'>\n<div id='div-gpt-ad-1561499308230-0'><script>googletag.cmd.push(function() {googletag.display('div-gpt-ad-1561499308230-0');});<\/script><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>With a population fewer than Pittsburgh, an&nbsp;<a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"http:\/\/www.abg.gov.pg\/uploads\/documents\/Financing_for_fiscal_autonomy-_Fiscal_Self-reliance_in_Bougainville_.pdf\" >estimated per-capita GDP<\/a>&nbsp;of about $1,100 and an economy reliant on money from the central government, <a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" aria-label=\"Bougainville seems an unlikely candidate for&nbsp;independence.  (opens in a new tab)\" href=\"https:\/\/www.mining.com\/web\/a-60-billion-mine-propels-bougainvilles-independence-vote\/\" >Bougainville seems an unlikely candidate for&nbsp;independence. <\/a>But it has one resource that could potentially give it real and not just nominal autonomy \u2014 a massive copper-gold deposit.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-pullquote alignright\">\n<blockquote>\n<p> Bougainville had a history of small-scale mining, but the identification of a major gold, copper and silver orebody at Panguna in the 1960s led to the operation of a major mine from 1972 until 1989 <\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/figure>\n<p>Bougainville had a history of small-scale mining. But <a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" aria-label=\" but the identification of a major gold, copper and silver orebody  (opens in a new tab)\" href=\"http:\/\/www.bcl.com.pg\/autonomous-bougainville-region\/\" >the identification  of a major gold, copper and silver orebody <\/a>at Panguna in the 1960s prompted Bougainville Copper Ltd, (BCL)  a subsidiary of Rio Tinto, to start operations of a major mine from 1972 until 1989. <\/p>\n<p>Work stopped after the start of the Bougainville civil war, of which the&nbsp;Pangua&nbsp;mine was a focal point. It lasted nearly 10 years.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>BCL says\u00a0Panguna <a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" aria-label=\"has an estimated 5.3 million metric tons of copper  (opens in a new tab)\" href=\"https:\/\/www.mining.com\/web\/bougainville-moves-closer-to-gaining-independence-from-png\/\" >has an estimated 5.3 million tones of copper <\/a>and 19.3 million ounces of gold, which would make the reserves worth about $60 billion at today\u2019s prices.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>BCL, which has a market capitalization of $71 million on the ASX, estimates that it would take seven to eight years and $5 billion to $6 billion to resume operations. Rio Tinto <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mining.com\/bougainvilles-58b-gold-copper-mine-safe-now-mining-act-changes-rejected\/\"  rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" aria-label=\"gave away its stake in 2016 (opens in a new tab)\">gave away its stake in 2016<\/a>, effectively donating the mine. That left the governments of Papua New Guinea and Bougainville with 36.4% each of BCL. <\/p>\n<p>In November, Bougainville Vice President Raymond\u00a0Masono\u00a0said he would revive a plan to overhaul the region\u2019s mining laws after the independence referendum, which could strip the former operator of Panguna of its interests, <a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" aria-label=\"Reuters reported.\u00a0 (opens in a new tab)\" href=\"https:\/\/www.mining.com\/web\/the-revolution-is-ongoing-bougainville-to-revive-radical-mining-proposal\/\" >Reuters reported.\u00a0<\/a>\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>The proposed changes would erase an interest in the project held by the Papua New Guinea government.&nbsp;&nbsp;Under amendments, Bougainville would take a 60% share in all projects and retain all mining&nbsp;licences, leaving a 40% share that investors can bid for.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>\u201cPanguna is the most likely project that can bankroll Bougainville\u2019s independence from Papua New Guinea,\u201d&nbsp;Masono, who is also Bougainville\u2019s mining minister, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.mining.com\/web\/the-revolution-is-ongoing-bougainville-to-revive-radical-mining-proposal\/\"  rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" aria-label=\"told Reuters at the time.&nbsp; (opens in a new tab)\">told Reuters at the time.&nbsp;<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u201cThey don\u2019t own the&nbsp;licence&nbsp;and the mine, we own it \u2013 they come on our terms. The revolution is ongoing.\u201d&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><em>(With files from Bloomberg and Reuters).&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The results from the Bougainville Referendum Commission attracted&nbsp;over 181,000 voters (the island nation&rsquo;s population was&nbsp;249,358 at the last count) and on Wednesday [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":47,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[624,369,4],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/juniorminingnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1155048"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/juniorminingnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/juniorminingnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/juniorminingnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/47"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/juniorminingnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1155048"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/juniorminingnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1155048\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1155070,"href":"https:\/\/juniorminingnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1155048\/revisions\/1155070"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/juniorminingnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1155048"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/juniorminingnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1155048"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/juniorminingnews.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1155048"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}