PNG govt begins steps to reopen Bougainville mine
Updated
The Papua New Guinea government has the taken the first serious step towards reopening the rich copper mine on Bougainville island.
The Panguna mine was at the centre of a secessionist war that claimed thousands of lives in the 1980s and 90s.
Our PNG correspondent, Steve Marshall, reports over the past 18 months Bougainville's autonomous government has been seeking control of its mineral and gas resources.
That request has largely been ignored by the PNG government until now.
Both governments have agreed on a step-by-step process to hand mining powers back to Bougainville.
The PNG mining minister, Dr Puka Temu, says the initiative is the first step in reopening the Bougainville copper mine.
"It's already there and an enormous deposit is still there and we basically agreed to start bringing the real pinion of Bougainville copper mine on the table," he said.
Dr Temu says both governments need to focus on lifting the moratorium on mining that was put in place there after the war.
