Trading Bougainville Copper (ADRs) 867948

INVESTOR interest in Bougainville Copper, half-owned by mining major Rio Tinto, was roused yesterday when reports emerged of the mine reopening by 2011 amid growing rumours of a possible Chinese buy-out.

Shares in the company are trading at $1.62, up from $1.44 last week.

Only last month the company received a speeding ticket from the Australian Securities Exchange when its shares went from $1.37 mid-month to an intra-day high of $1.68 on November 18.

An unconfirmed article in the Post Courier (Papua New Guinea) reported at the time on “big” Chinese interest to buy out the Panguna mine lease.

There were also whispers that Rio Tinto had applied for a 21-year extension to its mining lease at Panguna, but Mining.News.net was unable to confirm this and was still awaiting a response from Rio at the time of going to press.

Autonomous Bougainville Government President John Morris, on a return trip from China late last month, was quoted as saying “the Chinese have a big interest in the Panguna mine, one of them said they could buy out Rio Tinto ... that shows how powerful they are”.

“We must be ready for the Chinese when they come,” he said.

The Autonomous Region of Bougainville hopes to become an independent state in a referendum planned for 2015.

A separate article filed by the Post Courier on Monday reported that 100 representatives from the six Panguna mine lease affected areas met in Bougainville’s centre Buka for two days for official negotiations on reviewing the Bougainville Copper Agreement.

The agreement was one of the big concerns for locals also angered by large amounts of revenue going to the PNG government and Bougainville Copper.