BOUGAINVILLE GOVERNMENT PASSES ITS OWN MINING LAW.

By Aloysius Laukai 

The Bougainville Autonomous Government House of representatives this afternoon passed the controversial Bougainville Transitional Mining law after a lengthy debate which included the 41 ABG members and two National Government members, the Member for Central Bougainville, JIMMY MIRINGTORO and the Regional member, JOE LERA.

The new Bougainville transitional mining law now means that the PNG mining law ceases to apply in Bougainville and this means the Bougainville Copper Agreement also ceases to operate on Bougainville as of today.

This means that any future mining on Bougainville and including exploration would only be granted license under this law and by the ABG.

This law has also created history in that Landowners are now the rightful owners of their resources and have the VETO power to stop any development on their land.

This law also addresses the call by many critics that wanted stolen rights to return to the people of Bougainville. And all other interested players must now come through the ABG instead of dealing directly with the landowners as many cases in the past.

Today’s parliament sitting was witnessed by all stakeholders who have a special interest in Bougainville and was also witnessed by people who travelled all the way from North, Central and South Bougainville.

The law now enables any interested groups especially landowners who want to work with their partners to register their interests either on exploration or mining on Bougainville . The new Bougainville mining transitional law will operate until the permanent law on mining is passed by the ABG House