Source: PNG Loop

For seven years the mining department of the Autonomous Bougainville Government has worked to develop a policy framework for the long term mining law to meet Bougainville’s very special needs.

Last week international experts and their Bougainville team conducted a workshop for the Autonomous Bougainville Government cabinet and senior Bougainville Public Services officers to brief them on the ‘long-term’ and detailed draft act and regulations to give effect to the ABG’s previous decisions on the mining policy to give them a best-practice law.

The region is the only place in the world where a local rebellion over mining issues has shut down a very large mine of 25 years.

And for the past week international experts have been in Bougainville working with the Bougainville team on the draft act and regulation and together they have agreed on many adjustments.

Team leader, Jeremy Weate and senior expert, Professor James Otto have assured cabinet they will now make changes to the draft act and regulations  with the final draft to be delivered to the ABG in the first half of November.

Acting President of the ABG, Patrick Nisira and Mining Minister, Michael Oni expressed satisfaction with the rapid progress.

Both said the policy work began in 2007, and included many stakeholder workshops in the region and the ABG’s aim was a new law to truly meet our special needs and follow the world’s best practice.

“In 2013 a team of the best international experts were engaged to assist the Mining Department with funding from the World Bank to finalize the Mining policy and early this year. They have been working with the Bougainville Public Service counterpart team in which a draft policy document was developed after detailed consultation with the ABG cabinet that was approved in June,” they said.

‘’Since then the first draft of the detailed and new ‘long-term’ Bougainville mining act has been completed,” they said.

Both said the draft ‘long-term’ act builds on the foundations of the Bougainville Mining (Transitional Arrangements) Act passed by the ABG Parliament on Friday 8^thAugust 2014, for instance, it confirms ownership of minerals by Bougainville’s customary landowners where it provides a framework making small-scale mining by Bougainvillean’s legal and maintains the abolition of the Bougainville Copper Agreement and the SML created by it, and all exploration licenses held by BCL since the 1960’s”.

“It also deals with many things that were not covered by the Transitional Act. It makes detailed provisions on landowner resettlement, preference for LO’s in mining employment and contracts, free equity for LO’s in mining project, waste management and mine closure and land rehabilitation”.

‘’Two years ago we were happy to wait for the ‘long-term’ act, but then we got worried about back door deals that were being made by unscrupulous outsiders with small groups of Bougainvillean’s without any ABG checking or approval’’, they said.

‘’We  also faced possible action by the National Government to take majority ownership of BCL, so we moved an interim mining law as quickly as we could to deal with these problems’’, they said.

The next step for the ABG will be to conduct public awareness and consultation about the ‘long-term’ draft act that is aimed to be finalized and passed by late this year or early 2015.