Island Passage Development Canada Limited (IPDC or the Company)
announces the commencement of a mineral exploration program by its
PNG subsidiary, Island Passage Development Limited (IPD) on the
EL02 exploration license in Bougainville, Papua New Guinea. IPDC,
in partnership with Isina Resource Holdings Limited (IRHL), a
customary landowner company, are jointly exploring the 261 square
km mineral property located in south central Bougainville in the
Crown Prince Range, nine kilometres along strike to the southeast
from the historic Panguna copper gold mine.
This marks the first undertaking of a large-scale mineral
exploration program on Bougainville outside the special mining
lease held by Bougainville Copper Ltd (Rio Tinto – CRA) since 1965.
The new exploration program is also historic because EL02, which is
held by IRHL, was the first valid license for metals exploration on
Bougainville issued under the Autonomous Bougainville Government’s
2015 Mining Act.
Steven Topesi, Director of IRHL and Chairman of the Central
Veterans Association comments, "We the Kongara (EL02) people on
Bougainville have always said no to claims on our mineral resources
by outsiders. From these mountains we lead the struggle for the
return of our stolen rights from Colonial claims. Now, as the
recognised owners of our minerals, we are proud to be the first
landowner company to invite an outside partner, Island Passage, to
join with us to explore and develop what we have.
The Company initiated the exploration program in March with a
plan for several months of systematic stream sediment and panned
concentrate sampling to blanket the northwest trending prospective
corridor on the license. The team on the ground is led by several
Indonesian geologists who are experienced on the island and
specialised in porphyry copper geology and exploration in similar
terrains and climate from around the Ring of Fire. The Company’s
geologists are supported by a team of over 30 Bougainvilleans who
have undergone field operations training.
Prior to the commencement of the sampling campaign, an advance
team from IRHL began building social awareness of the upcoming
exploration with customary landowners and neighbors. In dozens of
meetings all over the license area, the team conveyed the details
of the plan and put logistical support in place. The overall effort
is being coordinated by IPDC co-founder Lindsay Semple from Arawa,
where IPD and IRHL are based.
The current campaign is expected to continue through to July,
after which results will be compiled and a phase two follow up
campaign will be initiated.
Donald McInnes, Co-Founder and CEO of IPDC, commented on the
significance of the return of systematic exploration to
Bougainville, “For 17 years beginning in 1972, Bougainville was
host to one of the world’s largest copper-gold mines. Today, the
world is chasing new supplies of critical and precious metals, and
demand is driving gold and copper to new highs. Island Passage
Development is committed to working with the customary landowners
of Bougainville through an innovative partnership to
reassess the mineral potential of Bougainville and to provide
a sustainable future under the new mining law that is ahead of its
time.”
History
The Island of Bougainville is one of the most prospective and
under-explored porphyry copper terranes in the world. Since the
closure of the world-class Panguna Mine in 1989, the development of
Bougainville’s mining industry has been frozen, except for the rise
of small-scale artisanal alluvial mining.
The Bougainville Mining Act (2015) is modern mining legislation
that contains the following provision that is unique among the
world’s mining laws, Section 8 of the 2015 Act states;
8. Property
in Minerals – customary land
All minerals existing on, in or below
the surface of land in Bougainville are the property of the owners
of the customary land.
This decree, through Section 8 of the Act, puts the mineral
resource owning landowners at the table with their development
partners, not as mere bystanders. By unambiguously empowering the
customary landowners the Act acknowledges direct ownership of the
resources, requires participation and sets the stage for
accomplishment. It is an antidote to the adversarial mining regimes
that currently plague the world.
Under the provisions of the Bougainville Peace Agreement, the
Bougainville Mining Act is administered by the Autonomous
Bougainville Government (ABG), independent of Papua New Guinea and
its separate mining act.
EL02 is one of only two valid exploration licenses on
Bougainville and the only one under active exploration.
A Long Term Effort
This program is the result of an 18 year-long intensive effort
started in 2005 with an initiative by Lindsay Semple. The effort
brought together the Paramount Chiefs, the ABG, and other leaders
to understand the terms and conditions that would create a viable
path for resumption of mining activity after the trauma of The
Conflict, an eight year long civil war sparked by mining that led to
the deaths of over 15,000 people. The effort and investment only
made sense in light of the generally accepted vast mineral
potential of Bougainville and the island’s need for infrastructure
and economic development.
IPDC has entered into a comprehensive earn-in agreement with
IRHL (the licence holder) to earn up to a 70% interest in the
project assets. Once vested through its investment in the
exploration of the mineral resources on the license, IPDC and IRHL
will proceed to develop the projects and assets together.
Current Mining Activity
Virtually unknown until 2007, today the island has alluvial gold
production of approximately 35,000 ounces per annum – largely by
Boungainvilleans at the village and community scale. New gold
occurrences are being discovered on a regular basis and worked
sporadically by the village artisanal miners.
Government Policies towards Mining
The Autonomous Bougainville Government has made several material
statements about the future prosperity of Bougainville being linked
to the reemergence of a modern sustainable mining industry.
In June of 2023, the Autonomous Bougainville Government
published a 50 year vision document called “One People, One Nation,
One Vision”.
In it can be found the following;
“Goal: By 2052,
Bougainville will have built a modern, diversified, and sustainable
economy based initially on mining and thereafter on agriculture,
fishing, forestry and tourism with a thriving private sector and
prolific economic opportunities for all our people.”
“Economic potential: Bougainville is
blessed with valuable natural resources, including one of the
world’s most vital commodities – extractive resources in the field
of copper and gold. The development of the Bougainville’s mining
sector can help to secure the foundations of a sustainable and
vibrant economy. The revenue from the sector can be invested in
education and health services for families and in helping farmers
to increase their productivity so that our agriculture sector
becomes a leading driver of private sector jobs. This revenue can
also help to fund the infrastructure necessary to build a
diversified economy and transform Bougainville into a modern
nation.”
Extracted from BOUGAINVILLE long trm VISION 2052
(abg.gov.pg)
About Isina Resource Holdings Ltd. IRHL was
founded in 2009 with the directors drawn from the chiefs of the
nine major clans and their subclans in south Central Bougainville.
As the custodians of their customary clan-owned land, the forty
-three directors represent the customary landowner families. In an
exercise of sovereignty over their mineral rights, they applied for
and were granted EL02 over their lands. The license boundary is
situated 9 km SE of the Panguna open pit along the Crown Prince
Range, and extends a further 26 km to the SE. The tenement contains
wholly within it the area known as P.A.7B which was one of the
seven BCL (Rio Tinto) exploration tenements that it held
surrounding Panguna.
About Island Passage Development Canada Ltd. A
private Canadian company purpose built in 2022 to facilitate the
finance, technical, commercial, and business development expertise
that will be necessary to drive exploration and development on
Bougainville. The Company is founded on the principle of
responsible resource development in partnership with indigenous and
customary landowners, and its leadership has a long track record of
success on multiple such ventures.
About Island Passage Development Ltd. The PNG
company is 100% owned by IPDC to bring exploration finance and
technical capacity from Canada to Bougainville to carry out
exploration on EL02.
For further information please go to islandpassage.ca
Or email Donald McInnes, CEO at donald@islandpassage.ca
Or follow IPDC on Facebook at (3) Island Passage
Development | Facebook
The IPDC team in camp at the end of a field
day.
Images accompanying this announcement are available
at
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