Category Referendum

Aug 12 2014

Bougainville Government strips Rio Tinto subsidiary BCL of all exploration and mining licences

With its wealth of precious metals underground, Bougainville is a treasure island.
FROM Jemina Garret ABC

Rio Tinto subsidiary Bougainville Copper has been stripped of all its exploration and mining licences by the Bougainville Government.

The company’s Panguna mine was once one of the biggest in the world but it was also the spark that lit a decade-long civil war in the 1990s in which 20,000 people died.

Bougainville’s parliament initiated the move when it passed a new Mining Act on Friday.

Audio: Bougainville’s president John Momis tells Jemima Garrett critics have got it wrong. (ABC News)

The legislation devolves power to regulate mining from the Papua New Guinea government to Bougainville’s Autonomous Government but at the same time it strips Bougainville Copper Ltd (BCL) of its seven exploration licences and its special mining lease over Panguna.

Although the company retains first right of refusal on negotiations to operate the mine, the legislation will put the Bougainville Government in a stronger negotiating position.

“We have invited them to come and negotiate with us and if they don’t meet our mutually acceptable terms then they are welcome to go,” Bougainville President John Momis told Radio Australia’s Pacific Beat.

John Momis
Photo: Bougainville president John Momis

“That is the only thing they have; first right of refusal.”

President Momis says the decision to cancel the licences came after wide-ranging consultations with the community on Bougainville.

“If we didn’t [cancel the licences], the landowners and the ex-combatants wouldn’t have allowed BCL to come back,” President Momis said.

Some ex-combatants and grassroots groups are worried by the legislation.

“This mining Bill will likely lay the foundations for another Bougainville crisis,” the Panguna Veteran’s Association said in a statement shortly before the Act was passed.

“Rio Tinto/BCL owned and controlled our minerals before and it led to the war.

“Under this Bill, Rio Tinto/BCL owns and will control our minerals – why would the result be any different this time?”

The chairman of the Me’ekamui Government of Unity, one of the groups descended from those started by civil war leader Francis Ona, is also concerned.

“This is a dangerous and destabilizing move and is not acceptable to the Me’ekamui,” Philip Miriori said.

President Momis says the critics who believe the new legislation leaves too much power in the hands of Rio Tinto and Bougainville Copper have been given the inaccurate information.

I think [the critics] are being misled deliberately by outsiders who have a vested interest

John Momis, president of the Autonomous Bougainville Government

“The critics are totally wrong – we have stripped Bougainville Copper of all powers,” he said.

“I think [the critics] are being misled deliberately by outsiders who have a vested interest.”

Some landowners groups have signed agreements with small unregulated mining companies.

Bougainville is due to hold a referendum on independence between 2015 and 2020.

Landowners and other groups that support mining see it as one means to obtain the economic self-reliance needed to have a real choice in the referendum.

Earlier this year, Mr Momis told the Australia Papua New Guinea Business Forum, he was not assuming that the Rio Tinto-owned copper mine on Bougainville would re-open or that Rio Tinto or Bougainville copper would be the operator.

However, now Mr Momis says extensive consultations have shown that landowners prefer to deal with BCL rather than a new potential operator.

“They talk of preferring the devil they know and not a new devil,” he said.

Jul 14 2014

Bougainville News : Information will be vital in Bougainville mine negotiations

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An increased flow of information will be provided to Panguna landowners and other Bougainvilleans as they give consideration to a re-opening of the former copper mine, says the co-chair of the joint Panguna Negotiations Coordination Committee, Raymond Masono.

He said this is part of a strategy to ensure that Bougainvilleans are at the centre of decisions about the mine’s future.

“The exclusion of Bougainvilleans from decisions about development of the Panguna copper mine was a key cause of the Bougainville conflict.

“This is why customary landowners, the Autonomous Bougainville Government,  the National Government and Bougainville Copper Ltd (BCL) are adopting a very different approach in considering whether the mine should be reopened,” said  Mr Masono.

“At the heart of this approach is a commitment by all parties that decisions on the future of the mine will rest with Bougainville.”

Prime Minister O’Neill and the Chairman of BCL, Peter Taylor, agreed with Bougainville President John Momis that strong support from the ABG and affected landowners is essential if the mine is to reopen.

“This is very different to what happened in 1969, when the key decisions were made by the Australian Colonial Administration and the mining company, which was then CRA Ltd,” Mr Masono said.

The transfer of mining powers from the National Government to the ABG and the development of Bougainville’s own mining legislation, are critical in ensuring that Bougainville is in control.

The other big change is that all of the major stakeholders will be closely involved in negotiations about the future of the mine, and will have access to the information they need to deal with the legacies of earlier mining and plan for the future.

“The JPNCC has been created to make sure that this happens,” Mr Masono said.

The JPNCC is a partnership between Panguna-affected landowners, the ABG, the National Government and BCL.

A key role of the JPNCC is to undertake baseline studies designed to establish the state of the environment, and existing social conditions, in areas surrounding the Panguna mine.

These studies, which will be conducted over the next 12 to 18 months, are essential to deal with the impacts of earlier mining and to inform decisions about whether the mine should be reopened.

“If people are to have trust in the findings of baseline studies they must be conducted independently, transparently, and to the highest technical standards.

“The JPNCC will ensure that this happens,” he said.

He said much remains to be done to improve communication of information about the baseline studies and other preparations to Bougainvilleans.

“An ABG survey of communication channels, both formal media and informal transfer of information, confirmed that people outside Buka have very limited access to mainstream media, including radio, television and newspapers,” he said.

“In response to these findings the JPNCC is developing a communication strategy focusing on face-to-face communication and delivery of print materials that are designed specifically to suit Bougainville conditions”.

New Bougainville Party launches Tonsu branch

THE people of Tonsu constituency in the west coast area of Buka Island recently witnessed the launching of the New Bougainville Party’s Tonsu branch.

The ceremony which was held at Petats Island last Wednesday was attended by party leader and President of the Autonomous Bougainville Government, John Momis and his cabinet ministers, party president Linus Sahoto and other senior members of the party.

The event marks Tonsu as the first constituency in Bougainville to have set up its branch, thus showing that many people there greatly admire and support the current leadership of President Momis.

On top of that, Tonsu will shortly be having permanent executives that will be manning the party’s interest. During the 2010 ABG Elections, NBP was only operating on an adhoc basis in the Tonsu area.

Mr Momis and his delegation included ministers Joel Banam (Public Administration and member for Tonsu), Luke Karaston (Works), Wilfred Komba (Commerce), Rose Pihei (Culture and Tourism), Newton Kauva and others.

Jul 9 2014

Bougainville News : President Momis to PNG Government “show me our money”

 

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“The Panguna Mine funded PNG’s development from 1972 to 1989. Now, at the Peace talks, the PNG Government agreed to fund Bougainville’s restoration through a guaranteed share of PNG’s development budget,” President Momis said

Financing the Autonomous Bougainville Government according to the Bougainville Peace Agreement and the PNG constitutional laws is not a new program or an option for the National Government.

ABG President Chief Dr John Momis made this bold statement during the Joint Supervisory Board Meeting in Kokopo last Friday as he pointed out the National Government’s lax attitude in funding the ABG’s Restoration Development Grant.

“My Cabinet and I are getting more and more annoyed when we hear National Government officers and sometimes minister speaking of Bougainville’s requests for funding of the RDG as though these are new claims,” the President said.

“Our government’s entitlements are written into the Constitution of Papua New Guinea. Each government may share some blame for not getting this right from 2005, but that does make the provisions any less relevant,” he added.

When the Bougainville Peace Agreement was being negotiated the National Government’s finances were in a poor state and the National Government argued it could not afford to provide the massive sums needed to fund recurrent costs adequately and to restore infrastructure and service in Bougainville in what is now known as the Restoration and Development Grant.

The National Government team offered the Bougainville parties the rolling five-year average formula based upon the 2001 National Public Investment Program.

Their argument was that as Papua New Guinea’s economy improved Bougainville would benefit in the same proportion as the rest of the country, in other words the proportion of the National Development Budget would remain roughly the same as it was in 2001 and the rationale was primarily based around a concept of fairness.

“The Panguna Mine funded PNG’s development from 1972 to 1989. Now, at the Peace talks, the PNG Government agreed to fund Bougainville’s restoration through a guaranteed share of PNG’s development budget,” President Momis said

Under the RDG;s formulae proposed by the ABG’s share of the domestically financed Public Investment Programme will be around two percent but the formulae proposed by the National Government Bougainville’s share of the Development Budget will reduce dramatically to one third of the share it was in 2001.

Since the creation of Bougainville’s autonomous arrangement the RDG has remain stagnant at K15 m per year.
The President asked that the JSB seek to agree the RDG formulae and that the ABG want the 2015 paid at the correct rate to maintain services in Bougainville.

He also recommended that the respective Chief Secretaries of both governments sit down and agree on the appointment of a suitable mediator and arbitrator