An aerial view of the abandoned Panguna mine pit. Photo: OCCRP / Aubrey Belford
The Papua New Guinea government has announced it is going ahead with a handover of shares in Bougainville Copper Ltd to the Autonomous Bougainville Government (ABG).
The former owner, Rio Tinto, let go of the shares nine years ago, with just over a third going to each government, and the remainder to the local landowners.
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PNG had long promised to give its portion of the shares to the people of Bougainville.
Now, as per an agreement made five years ago, the shares will go to the ABG, giving it a shareholding of 73 percent.
Bougainville's government wants to re-open the controversial mine at Panguna, which had been run by Rio Tinto through its Bougainville Copper subsidiary until its shut down by the civil war in 1989.
The region's leaders see the mine as the fastest way to develop an economy on which Bougainville can build its independence.
But overshadowing this somewhat is a call for Rio Tinto to mitigate the environmental and social damage generated by the mine before that shut down.
