A Bougainville landowner group says the government's link with Australian company Caballus will destroy the Papua New Guinea autonomous province's ability to secure international finance.
The government announced in January it was teaming up with the newly established Caballus and re-writing the Mining Act to give the company unprecedented control over Bougainville's minerals.
The Special Mining Lease Osikaiang Landowners Association said this would strip all landowners across Bougainville of their rights.
Its chairman Philip Miriori said Bougainville would be viewed as a jurisdiction with unstable laws and international investors will turn their backs on the region.
A lake in the pit of the long defunct Panguna mine in Bougainville. Photo: www.travelinspired.co.nz