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Bougainville Copper (ASX:BOC) shareholders have watched in dismay as shares in BOC slumped just south of -50% in early arvo trades after the market balked at the company’s latest update around the Paguna Project.
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Paguna is a potentially lucrative copper asset that at this current time needs redevelopment. To that end, BOC has spent much of 2025 searching for an international mining partner, and earlier this year, it entered into early-stage talks with an Indian company called Lloyds Metals and Energy Limited.
However, BOC reported Tuesday that LMEL has since ceased contact with BOC – which this finance journalist takes to mean they literally stopped answering calls and e-mails – and so it looked like those early-stage partnership talks were to fall into the aether. No big deal, keep looking.
Except on Tuesday, BOC has also reported the Autonomous Bougainville Government, an entity in Papua New Guinea named after the region where the company’s namesake originates from, has entered into an MOU with LMEL – without telling BOC.
(One is left to assume, here, LMEL took interest in the Paguna redevelopment project after liaising with BOC, then went over the latter’s head to talk to jurisdictional mining authorities instead of the private sector.)
“BOC became aware of the discussions between LMEL and ABG only recently and was not consulted in the decision by ABG to enter into the MOU with LMEL, despite ABG previously providing written support to BOC for the Partnering Process and being aware of its progress through ABG representation on the board of BOC,” Bougainville Copper wrote on Tuesday.
“Progress of the Panguna Project will rely on active support from ABG, as the regulator of all mining activities in Bougainville, and the MOU casts doubt on BOC’s ability to enter into a meaningful strategic partnering arrangement.”
Talk about fear, uncertainty, and doubt. No surprise, stemming from this absolute what-the-hell style of market update, BOC nosedived (though it ought be noted as at 12.40pm AEDT, only some A$735K worth of shares have traded hands.)
BOC will continue tapping prior and future partnership candidates to probe interest in a Paguna redevelopment. But if BOC and the ABG aren’t talking, it’s hard to imagine that redevelopment would be a smooth process.
BOC last traded at 60cps.
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