Bougainville Copper Ltd. (BOC.AU) said Wednesday a study has shown its Panguna mine in Papua New Guinea has a mineral resource of a billion tons of ore.

The company said an order of magnitude study, based on the mining operations at the site before it was closed by a civil war in 1989, had shown there was sufficient potential for a viable operation, allowing the reporting of a mineral resource statement.

Based on geological, mine planning and production data archived in 1989, Bougainville Copper said Panguna has an indicated and inferred resource of 1.06 billion metric tons of ore with copper at grades of 0.33% and gold at 0.37 grams per ton.

Bougainville Copper, which is 53.6% owned by Rio Tinto Ltd. (RTP), has been in talks with the Papua New Guinean Government and the Autonomous Bougainville Government over the mine's future and has said consensus among stakeholders will be required before any restart to mining.

-By Alex Wilson, Dow Jones Newswires; 61-3-9671-4313; alex.wilson@dowjones.com
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