The Panguna copper project has passed a significant milestone, with over 300 landowners signing a land access and compensation agreement (LACA) with Bougainville Copper Limited (BCL).
Autonomous Bougainville Government (ABG) President Ishmael Toroama was on-hand to witness the signing. Toroama said it marked a significant step in the Panguna project’s lifecycle.
“I commend the Panguna landowners for reaching agreement with BCL and BCL for complying with the law towards undertaking its activities within the EL01 [the exploration licence] area,” he said.
“Once this LACA is signed, I trust that it will be registered by the Bougainville Chief Warden within the required legal timeframe to enable BCL to progress this project.”
Toroama urged BCL to maintain cooperative relations with landowners to ensure the smooth progress of the Panguna project, encouraging stakeholders to continue working together in unity.
“This signing ceremony today is significant because it is a process per Bougainville mining law, which states that before entering the land the subject of an exploration licence to implement its work program, the licence holder must first enter into a land access and compensation agreement with the landowners,” ABG Department of Mining and Petroleum secretary Peter Kolotein said.
“This means that the government may issue an exploration licence at the government level, but the licence holder cannot enter the land unless it gets the land access permission from the landowners.”
The signing of the LACA paves the way forward to increase project pre-feasibility and feasibility activities, leading the way to an increase in GST, income tax collection and, ultimately, internal revenue for Bougainville.
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