Press Release of Special Mine Lease Osikaiyang Landowners Association Inc.
11 April 2018
Bougainville Copper Limited (BCL) accuse Autonomous Bougainville Government (ABG) of stealing their Panguna mine assets. Apparently we landowners do not own the minerals – wait, yes we do!
Desperate attempt by BCL to distort the facts once again. Just more lies – the SMLOLA landowners will not have them back – full stop!
The Chairman of SMLOLA, Mr Philip Miriori and his Advisor Mr Lawrence Daveona say “once again we are disappointed in the conduct of BCL, showing they have not changed or learnt any lessons from the tragic history they put us through. The Warden’s Hearing could not have been a stronger message from our community – BCL is not welcome at Panguna ever yet they try and say they have majority landowner support – just more lies. Respect the call of the people and the Government and leave. The decision of the ABG to deny their purported renewal application has been incredibly positive for our landowners, allowing the real facts to come to light and getting rid of the menace that was trying to divide our people. We are now united behind a fresh new development of Panguna with our preferred developer, RTG Mining Inc. and want nothing to do with BCL again.”
The following comments are in response to the 2017 Annual Report of BCL which was released to the Australian Stock Exchange last week.
Mr Miriori says “For a company that:
- has been given almost 30 years to fix up their failings of the past with no progress;
- accepted a further 2 year exploration licence under the very Bougainville Mining Act they now conveniently say is illegal;
- sought a renewal of the exploration licence under the very Bougainville Mining Act they now conveniently say is illegal;
- were given a further 18 months after the expiry of their 2 year exploration licence to secure landowner support and still failed throughout that 3 and half year period to overcome or even acknowledge the legacy issues and win landowner support;
- attended a Warden’s Hearing under the very Bougainville Mining Act they now conveniently say is illegal and failed;
they now try and cry wolf saying they have been treated unfairly and actually have strong landowner support despite the obvious facts. How naïve do they think the landowners and the ABG are?
Mr Daveona says “ I know BCL well, I sadly supported them for 34 years till 2017 but I have now seen the truth behind their lies and the vast majority of my fellow SMLOLA members are now all united against the return of BCL at any time. We will not be taken advantage of again. Even if they tried to finally step up and listen to us and compensate us for the past – it is too late, we cannot trust them. Too many broken promises.”
Mr Miriori says “Not only is BCL lying about the support of the landowners (the people they appear to have forgotten own the minerals) attacking our very credibility, they are now also suing their major shareholder, the ABG. Not only that, the Annual Report accuses the ABG of expropriating BCL’s Panguna mine assets in breach of the 1967 Bougainville Copper Agreement Act 1967, now saying the Bougainville Mining Act is illegal. The same Bougainville Mining Act that they were happy to take advantage of and use to prolong their involvement in Panguna. They also say the ABG has no legal powers in respect to mining on Bougainville and that the ABG has now illegally expropriated its mine. Could there be an greater show of disrespect for our ABG and Bougainville at large?”
To further illustrate the lack of substance in their remarks, after having effectively called the ABG a thief they then say … “BCL remains committed to engaging with the ABG positively and in good faith to advance the objectives of redeveloping the Panguna mine for the benefit of Bougainville and its people”. How disingenuous? When are the lies going to stop?
Mr Miriori says “The report is full of outright lies which can be found online but here are a few that cause us greatest concern:
- The ABG expropriated (stole) its Panguna mine assets with the Bougainville Mining Act 2015.
- Even after the denial of its application for an extension of its exploration licence following a lengthy Warden’s Hearing where they clearly failed to win the support of the landowners, BCL continues to claim it has strong majority consent among customary landowners when it simply does not. Infact the exact opposite is the case, the opposition to BCL is now even stronger than it was at the Warden’s Hearing.
- Our legal advice is that the purported extension application filed by BCL did not comply with the provisions of the Bougainville Mining Act as claimed by BCL.
- BCL is now suing the ABG, the Bougainville Mining Minister, ABG Vice President, Raymond Masono, the ABG Mining Warden and ABG Mining Registrar saying they made mistakes which caused them to reach the wrong decision. How disrespectful. BCL lost the exploration licence fair and square having been afforded far more opportunities than any other applicants for exploration licences. BCL is refusing to accept the umpire’s decision and we will all pay a price as BCL seeks to prevent development by anyone other than itself. Is this what BCL calls acting “positively and in good faith”?
- BCL says that the landowners are effectively a competing interest, when we own the land and resources at Panguna. I have reached out personally on many occasions to speak with BCL but the door was always slammed in my face. Someone needs to tell BCL its 2018 not 1967.
- BCL says that the leadership of the SMLOLA is unresolved when it knows full well the parties, Lawrence Daveona and myself entered into a comprehensive deed of settlement which has been filed with the court and is working well, with the vast majority of our landowners now united behind the leadership. In fact it is BCL tyring to mobilise an ever decreasing handful of landowners to try and destabilize the SMLOLA – at last count there were only 5 members!
- The report says that the landowners were unable to access Panguna for a meeting because of a roadblock. BCL is deluded. The roadblock was set up by Panguna landowners themselves to prevent the signing of an obnoxious memorandum of understanding where BCL was trying to get us to sign away all rights to the minerals and land access to BCL for the bare minimum provided for under the Bougainville Mining Act (again the same Act they now say is illegal).l
The landowners have had enough of the lies and want to be respected as the owners of the Panguna minerals: they have made their choice on the redevelopment of Panguna and are committed to working with the ABG to implement a successful new mine that will benefit all Bougainvilleans.
Philip Miriori Lawrence Daveona
Chairman Advisor
(20min delay)
