Transcript
MARK HITCHCOCK: I know that directors from Bougainville Copper have had some dialogue and we have equally had dialogue with President Momis having joint conversations.
DON WISEMAN: Are you confident it is going to be sorted out?
MH: It is not an easy thing to be resolved and really that is a matter for Prime Minister O'Neill to follow through.
DW: BCL at the beginning of the year produced a timeline for what it wanted to do if it got a chance to go ahead at Panguna and that culminated I think about 2026 with the mine being in full operation, but a critical part is that there were going to be things in place from the end of 2017, so how is tht going?
MH: We ahve made really good progress in moving forward there. We have opened our office in Buka, we have recruited a team on the ground in Bougainville. We have project officers who are actually up in Panguna and Arawa. So we have got an open dialogue going on with all the stakeholders in the area, so that is going well. The one thing that does hold us up a little bit is the ongoing dispute with the landowner association, and we are respectfully waiting for the mediation to occur there before we are invited back in there.
DW: This is not a minor issue is it? This group, the group [Osikiang Special Mining Lease] that Philip Miriori is leading, is, as he believes anyway, is the critical group because it is the group that is right at the site of the mine, and you have got to get onside with them, don't you? So is that going to happen? Are you going to be able to do that?
MH: Well we believe we do and I can't say too much about the mediation but we have seen widespread approval for the return to mining and with Bougainville Copper with the people who have been attending mediation, and we are confident that we have a widespread support of landowners in the region, in the Panguna area.
DW: Let's presume that somehow you can overcome the difficulties with the Osikiang group, then what happens?
MH: The exploration licence renewal process is now being followed through and there is a wardens' hearing in early December and Bougainville Copper will be presenting at the wardens' hearing our full plans on how we will move forward on the new Panguna project.
DW: So the exploration licence - you have got to go through that stage before you can, for instance, start exploring.
MH: Correct yes we need tenure over the area before we can go forward, and the social acceptance of the stake holders.
DW: So I guess there is the possibility that you are never going to get that social acceptance, so then what happens to BCL?
MH: Well we have the support of the Bougainville government. We have seen widespread support but we have people on the ground so we know there is support for Bougainville Copper. There will always be detractors in a crowd and we need the chance to be invited back there and present our case and enlighten what a modern mine could or would look like.
DW: That's a critical thing isn't it, of course, because one of the big issues in 1989 and 1990 was the environmental pollution resulting from the mine. You have got to be able to be able to show people how you would do things a lot differently now. Are you in a position to do that?
MH: I believe we are. The world of mining has changed since 1989 and modern practices dictate that things are done differently. For instance how would tailings be treated and that's all part of our modern design and plans [as to ] how we would deal with those sorts of things.
DW: One of the criticisms that has come from groups like the Osikiang group is that BCL has still got a lot of people involved in it who were there in the Rio Tinto days.
MH: It is a fairly reputable board that we have, with the recent appointment of Mel Togolo [Bougainvillean and soon to be chair of the board] and also Peter Graham, a renowned businessman who was involved with the LNG project in Papua New Guinea, we have prominent ex-prime ministers and ministers. It is an independent board and it is run for and by the shareholders.
DW: Yes the company itself though, in terms of staff?
MH: Staff - we have got a small team and there are few now that were Rio Tinto.
