Bancorp International Group Inc (fka BCIT)

[mretgnol]

Did Rio tinto said goodbye to the huge mining reserves from Panguna

No.

Panguna is owned and still owned by Bougainville Copper, a publicly traded company.

Rio Tinto owns 50% of Bougainville Copper. The PNG Government owns 19%.

Bougainville President John Morris, a former ambassador to China, has asked the Chinese to buyout Bougainville Copper, take it private, restart Panguna, and cut a new lease with Bougainville.

It's all public information.

There are even some great sites with audio that expresses what is happening in Bougainville.

http://www.radioaustralia.net.au/pacbeat/stories/201102/s3143917.htm

GARRETT: What would it take if the Chinese wanted to buy out Bougainville Copper?

TAYLOR: Well, Bougainville Copper is a public company, a listed company. There is obviously the one very large shareholder, which is Rio Tinto Ltd, but the PNG government is the second biggest with 19% interest and without getting one or both of those parties interested in selling, I am not sure that it would be possible for the Chinese to buy it.

GARRETT: Apart from Chinese companies there have also been a number of smaller companies that have been on Bougainville promising the world - do landowners and the autonomous government of Bougainville need to careful of carpet baggers at this point?

TAYLOR: Well they do. There is nothing unusual about having what I call the fringe dwellers circle a new major development anywhere in the world. Bougainville has had its share, that so far, I think, its fair to say have been disappointing to Bougainvilleans and I think in one sense that's actually been of benefit to Bougainville Copper because, having seen the alternatives, the Bougainvilleans are saying, they actually prefer Bougainville Copper to reopen the mine


GARRETT: In fact, you have plenty of exploration leases that you haven't used. Just how much potential is there to significantly extend the resource you have there?

TAYLOR: Well that's right. There are only 7 exploration licences that have been granted on Bougainville and Bougainville Copper owns all of those. And we think they are amongst the most prospective pieces of ground. Its very exciting. There was a moratorium put on further exploration when the mine first opened so there has been nothing other than an aero-magnetic survey which was done as an aid project by the German government in the mid 80's. But that survey actually confirmed some of the geochemical anomalies that we'd found on the ground and so we've got some very nice targets there, and our geologists are very excited about getting back one day and doing some further exploration.