October 12, 2018
AN official travel ban has been placed on Australian miner RTG Mining’s executives and board members from entering PNG, especially Bougainville.
The PNG Immigration and Citizenship Authority issued the ban on October 3 following concerns expressed over stet activities in the troubled Panguna mine area raised by the Autonomous Bougainville Government.
This is the latest move in a spate of ongoing internal controversies which landowner factions there are involved with some supporting RTG and others Bougainville Copper Limited. The ABG’s stance however is rooted over what it claimed was RTG’s defiance of the Bougainville Mining Act having bypassed it and operating in the Panguna area under the blessings of the elusive rival group Mekamui. Official documents show the matter boiled over when a September 6 session of the Bougainville House of Representatives was delayed for hours when RTG counter-invited some of its members to attend a power point presentation in its plans for Panguna.
The House could not sit for lack of quorum because some of its members attended the presentation at the nearby Kuri Lodge on Buka Island.
The next day President John Momis in an official address to the House condemned the actions of RTG saying it was blatant disrespect of the Bougainville people and the peace process.
He told the House both BCL and RTG were fighting for control of Panguna “thus creating instability and putting at risk the peace that all Bougainvilleans have worked hard to achieve in the last 18 years”.
Mr Momis said RTG was only a mineral exploration minnow and according to ABG’s due diligence the company did not own any mines and was facing litigation in the Australian and the Philippines legal jurisdictions.
RTG Price at posting:
11.5¢ Sentiment: None Disclosure: Not Held
