The President of the Autonomous Bougainville Government Chief John Momis says he fully supports the plans of the new look Bougainville Copper Limited.
Bougainville's Panguna Copper mine Photo: Supplied
The miner, which is now partly owned by the Bougainville government and its land-owning groups, along with the Papua New Guinea government and private shareholders, has laid out a plan for a possible re-opening of the controversial Panguna mine by about 2025.
The Post Courier reports President Momis saying the ABG, as regulator, would support BCL in exploring a new approach which accommodates the interests of stakeholders in any fast track development of the Panguna resources.
He said that since BCL was invited to formally re-engage with Bougainville in 2012, the landowners have consistently stated their preference to work with the company as the developer.
Mr Momis said this was reaffirmed when landowner associations met with the BCL chairman Rob Burns in February.
Mr Burns had outlined how different the new approach to Panguna would be under the new BCL.
John Momis said his government and the landowners have also committed to addressing the challenges to progressing the Panguna project and are looking forward to working in partnership with BCL through the project development cycle.