Bougainville Copper Gets Big Loans

Press, Volume CIX, Issue 32053, 30 July 1969, Page 21

Bougainville Copper Gets Big Loans

(N.Z.P. A.-Reuter —Copyright)

SAN FRANCISCO, July 28.

Bougainville Copper Proprietary, Ltd, an Australianowned firm with interests in Papua and New Guinea, will receive loans of up to $U5264.4m from two syndicates of British, European and Canadian banks and financial institutions, it was announced today by the Bank of America, which is leading both syndicates.

Bougainville Copper is owned two-thirds by Conzinc Riotinto of Australia, Ltd, and onethird by New Broken Hill Consolidated, Ltd. Bougainville Copper signed the credit agreement today.

Bougainville Copper recently announced that 760 m tons of ore with an average grade of 0.47 per cent copper and 0.4 pennyweight of gold a ton, around which there are additional quantities of lower grade ore, is available for open pit mining on Bougainville Island, in the territory of Papua and New Guinea. In Tokyo seven Japanese smelters have agreed to supply a loan of SUS6Om for the development of copper resources on Bougainville, subject to approval by the Japanese Government. Mr Takeo Takada, overseas j development division director i of Mitsubishi Metal Mining'

Company, told Reuter that the Japanese smelters expect to sign a formal contract on the loan next month with Bougainville Copper, Pty, Ltd. The seven Japanese firms have already agreed to buy about SUSI,IOOm worth of copper concentrates, estimated to represent more than 9m tons in copper content, from Bougainville over a period of 15 years after 1972. Representatives of the Riotinto group are scheduled to visit Japan next month to sign the contract, he said. The loan is to cover part of I the cost, estimated at s33om [of exploiting the copper re'serves on the island.

Mr Takada was the leader of a Japanese survey team of 11 which recently visited Bougainville.

He said that the Japanese copper smelters had little apprehension about reported trouble in Bougainville over the land issue.