Artisanal miners search for gold in the waters downstream from the Panguna mine in Bougainville, Papua New Guinea. Photo: OCCRP / Aubrey Belford
Canadian miner Island Passage Exploration (IPX) says it is beginning phase four of an exploration programme at Isina in the autonomous Papua New Guinea region of Bougainville.
IPX has 70 percent of Isina Resource Holdiings, a company ostensibly controlled by local landowners.
They have been exploring 261 square kilometres in the Crown Prince Range in Central Bougainville, only nine kilometres southeast of the shutdown Pangua mine.
The company behind Panguna, Bougainville Copper Ltd, is looking to reopen that once giant mine, but issues remain about the ongoing environmental and human rights violations blamed on the previous owners.
A report is due to be made public very shortly detailing these impacts.
Meanwhile, IPX said it is fostering a peaceful and safe relaunch of systematic modern copper-gold exploration in Bougainville.
The first three phases of the exploration have shown that there is gold, silver, copper, molybdenum, and base metals within the exploration site.