Mining is set to become a major issue for the upcoming presidential election in the autonomous Papua New Guinea province of Bougainville.
Bougainvilleans, who are due to go to the polls in late November, appear divided over whether the province should resume mining activities.
There are fears that a new deal involving mining that the autonomous government has entered into with a Canadian company, Invincible, could re-ignite the tensions which sparked Bougainville's bloody civil war.
However Anthony Regan, from the Melanesia Programme at the Australian National University, who is also an advisor to the Bougainville government, says a consensus has emerged among the leaders that large-scale mining is the way to go.
"So there could be quite a lot of controversy during the election campaign, a lot of differences amongst people over the future of mining. The election's likely to turn into a sort of referendum on what way to go with mining with some people opposed to this deal with Invincible Resources, others pushing ahead, seeing that as the way in which Bougainville could become a sort of Kuwait of the Pacific."
Anthony Regan
