Ladies and gentlemen, I extend my warm welcome to you all to the 58th Annual General Meeting of Bougainville Copper Limited. My name is Sir Melchior Togolo, and I'm the company's Chairman. Our meeting today will once again be streamed live online, allowing shareholders, proxies, guests, and participants in this year's Annual General Meeting virtually. All online attendees can view the meeting, and the shareholders and proxies have the ability to ask questions and submit votes. You can ask questions at the physical meeting or via a live text facility at any time. Please take note that while you can submit questions, from now on, I will not address them until the relevant time in the meeting. Please also take note that questions may be moderated, or if we receive multiple questions on one topic, these will be combined and amalgamated together.
Finally, due to time constraints, we may run out of time to answer all of your questions. If this is the case, we will answer them after the meeting via email or by posting responses on our website. In accordance with Section 6.9AI of the Bougainville Copper Limited Constitution, voting today will be conducted by way of a poll on all items of business. In order to provide you with enough time to vote online, online registration opened 30 minutes prior to the start of this meeting. If you are eligible to vote at this meeting, you may cast your vote at appropriate times while the meeting is in progress. I will give you a warning before I move to close voting. I understand that each member has received a notice of meeting, and I propose to take the notice as read.
Shareholders attending the physical meeting have been given a voting card upon registering. Please complete your voting at any time and ensure you return your card at the conclusion of this meeting. Visitors who are not shareholders in the company are welcome to attend the meeting as observers. However, you are not entitled to ask questions or to vote. Nevertheless, I hope you find the proceedings interesting. At this meeting today, I'd just like to introduce the members of the board. On my immediate right is Johnny Auna. He's the company Secretary. Next to him is Non-Executive Director Sir Moi Avei. Next to Sir Moi is Non-Executive Director Peter Graham. Next to him is Non-Executive Director Kearnneth Nanei . Next to Nanei is Non-Executive Director James Rutana. And next to James is Non-Executive Director Maryanne Hasola.
The Annual General Meeting gives me an opportunity, as Chairman, to make a statement concerning the up-to-date affairs of the company. Copies of these statements were distributed as you came into this meeting this afternoon. With your permission, I would now like to present my address. On behalf of the Board and Management of Bougainville Copper, I would like to welcome you all to our 2025 Annual General Meeting. As Chairman of this meeting, this provides me with an opportunity to update you on the affairs of the company over the last 12 months. We are pleased to have made good progress in advancing the Panguna project during this period and look forward with a renewed sense of purpose and optimism. The overview.
The certainty of tenure provided by the Autonomous Bougainville Government in January 2024 in granting a five-year extension license, ELO1, provided impetus for us to enter a more active phase. The ABG has consistently made clear the importance of Panguna's redevelopment in its plans for Bougainville's economic vitalization and social advancement. In this sense, Panguna project is intrinsically linked to the regions economic sustainability. Importantly, the ABG's endorsement of BCL has broad support among landowner communities. This was evident during a period of engagement that culminated in the signing of the Milestone Land Access and Compensation Agreement in Panguna on the 6th of November, 2024. The agreement paves the way for our work on the ground to intensify, and this will continue throughout 2025. Social mapping and landowner identification update studies are, for example, being currently undertaken.
The necessary feasibility work under the exploration license, in accordance with the Bougainville Mining Act, will go to confirming the project's viability. BCL has engaged specialist strategic advisors as part of our project readiness planning. The company's existing intellectual property relevant to Panguna deposit is a very valuable asset and includes all body data, technical reports, and studies. This information is key to understanding the resource and development options in readiness to support the next phase of advancement. As part of our project readiness work, approximately 9,000 files and documents have been reviewed, enabling financial models, business cases, and potential investment structures to be developed and evaluated. Macroeconomic modeling has also been carried out to assess the impact of redevelopment of Panguna mine on Bougainville broader economy. This study confirms that Panguna's reopening will help catapult Bougainville's economy forward.
The company is now in the process of exploring opportunities for mining and investment partnerships, which will be essential to unlocking the project's potential. We are committed to pursuing a simple and transparent investment and benefit structure in the best interest of our shareholders, including Bougainville and its people. David Osikore. Notwithstanding the progress, the year also brought sadness for BCL with the untimely passing of respected colleague and friend, Mr. David Osikore, last August. David had served on the board since August 2019 and was appointed CEO and Managing Director in March 2024. Unfortunately, he had to step down from these roles in July due to ill health but remained on the board up until his untimely passing. David, as a proud Bougainvillean, brought invaluable local knowledge to his roles and more than 30 years experience in the exploration and mining industries.
He played a major part in BCL's engagement with landowners and government and was instrumental to the awarding of the ELO1 extension. Above all, David was a thoroughly decent man, a strong family man, and reliable friend to many and will be greatly missed. The company is pleased to appoint Johnny Patterson Auna as Chief Executive Officer in January 2025. He served as Acting CEO following David's untimely resignation. Mr. Auna, who is also a Bougainvillean, brings to the role more than 30 years experience in finance and accounting, strategic planning, senior management, and corporate operations in both the private and public sectors. Prior to joining BCL, Mr. Auna served as a Secretary of the Department of Treasury and Finance with the ABG. During a diverse career, Mr. Auna has also worked as a Managing Director, General Manager, CEO, Accountant, Business Consultant, and Commodity Trader.
He holds several qualifications, including a Bachelor of Business in Accountancy, and he's a certified practicing accountant. He has served on several boards as a Director and Chairman. Johnny is a highly regarded leader, and given his corporate experience, local knowledge, and contacts, he's well qualified to head BCL. Let me now go to the financial results. For the year ended 31st December 2024, the Group recorded a loss of PGK 13.4 million compared to a loss of PGK 8.3 million the previous year. Company expenditure was concentrated on meeting ELO1 commitments and obligations set out in the license approval conditions and work plan requirements. These included landowner identification studies, finalization of ELO1 land access and compensation agreement, desktop modeling, pre-feasibility studies, stakeholder engagement, delivery of small community support projects, and supplementary exploration in planning.
The company has total consolidated net asset of PGK 80.4 million compared to PGK 96 million the previous year. Bougainville Copper Foundation is a fully owned subsidiary of BCL, with its balance sheet consolidated with BCL as of 31st December 2024. The company has sufficient funds to cover planned recurrent expenditure in 2025 and remains debt free. The company will not pay dividend. Liquid assets. Bougainville Copper's financial assets are cash and Australian equities. Interests and dividends from these assets continue to partially fund the company's activities, and income from interest and dividends for 2024 was PGK 3.4 million compared to PGK 3.5 million in the previous year. The fair value of investment decreased by PGK 2.3 million for 2024 compared to an increase of PGK 6.2 million in the previous year.
Realized gains on sales of investment for the year PGK 6.4 million compared to PGK 3.8 million are not recorded in the income statement but are reported as a transfer directly to retained earnings in shareholders funds. Equities are only sold when necessary to fund the ongoing company operations. Shareholding. The PNG National Government has committed to transferring the independent states of PNG's 36.4% shareholding in Bougainville Copper to the ABG and the people of Bougainville. Once finalized, the ABG and the people of Bougainville will be, for the first time, BCL's majority shareholder with a 72.9% share in the company. The ABG has been exploring arrangements whereby a suitable entity receives the shares free from stamp duty charges on transfer. The transfer will be finalized once these arrangements are settled. Legacy Impact Assessment. The company welcomes the progress being made on the independent Panguna mine legacy impact assessment.
Following two years of field studies, international consulting firm Tetra Tech Coffey released its phase one report in December 2024. It identified actual and potential environmental impacts associated with the original Panguna mine, which ceased operation in 1989 due to militant activity. Bougainville Copper is working collaboratively with both the ABG and BCL's former majority owner Rio Tinto to address the Panguna mine legacy impact assessment findings. BCL is a member of the Oversight Committee and remains committed to playing a constructive role during what is an ongoing process. The legacy impact assessment work is being predominantly funded by Rio Tinto and has the backing of all stakeholders, including mine-affected communities and human rights advocates. Class action.
The company informed the market on the 23rd May 2024 that it had been served with notice that a class action lawsuit naming it as a second defendant had been filed in the PNG National Court by Martin Ronald Miriori. The class action is being financed by a Caribbean-based third-party litigation funder and seeks compensation for claimed environmental and social harm associated with the original Panguna mine. Bougainville Copper's former majority owner, Rio Tinto, is named as the first defendant. BCL has submitted its defense and will vigorously defend its position. Company Board, BCL remains committed to ensuring composition of the board reflects our status as a local company. Currently, four of the company's six directors are Bougainvillean. Kearnneth Nanei and James Rutana, both retired by rotation and being available, offer themselves for reelection, which the board supports.
The board has decided to defer filling the vacancy created by the passing of David Osikore. Bougainville Copper Foundation. Bougainville Copper Foundation continues to provide scholarships for local tertiary students. Applications were accepted in November 2024, with 20 scholarships awarded for 2025 to students in undergraduate courses at tertiary institutions within PNG. Since 1997, Bougainville Copper Foundation, a subsidiary of BCL, has assisted more than 1,000 students. Stakeholder engagement, t he company has made significant advances to strengthen relationships with key stakeholders, including the ABG, project area landowners, and their communities. In October 2024, BCL led various landholder meetings and workshops in preparation for land access and compensation agreement signing. In late January 2025, the CEO, Mr. Johnny Auna, also provided a project update during the ABG's Nation Building and Framework workshop in Buka.
This was attended by the President, His Honorable Ishmal Toroama, members of the Bougainville Executive Council, and other senior members of the government and departmental heads. In May 2024, BCL was a key participant during a five-day program backed by UN Women aimed at empowering Panguna women to participate with confidence in the decision-making process relating to the mine redevelopment. I also delivered addresses at both the Kent Connects Community Affairs Expo as part of the PNG Resource Week last July and at the PNG Investment Week conference in Sydney in December 2024, where the transformational potential of Panguna mine was outlined. Community support. Bougainville Copper continues to provide modest yet meaningful support for worthy community activities in Bougainville. The company, for example, assisted with labor costs for a permanent staff house at Joseph Kabui Memorial Primary School in Panguna.
It sponsored student prizes at several schools, supported literacy activities, and again sponsored the Mona and Tama cultural festivals. It also continued to support grassroots sport, which plays a very important part in the lives of particularly young people on the island. On governance, the company has governance reporting obligations to the Australian Securities Exchange. A statement on compliance with ASX corporate governance principles and recommendations is contained in the annual report. BCL has also delivered and complies with a comprehensive set of charters and policies. These are available on our website. The company also undertakes regular assessment to identify both risks and opportunities, and responds accordingly. The company, at its annual general meeting, must appoint the auditor for the period ahead in accordance with Regulation 16 of the BCL Constitution. Following a closed tender process, the Board has nominated KPMG for appointment.
This is the subject of Resolution 3 for voting. Health and safe and healthy workforce is essential to the company's success, and Bougainville Copper is committed to achieving zero harm. It is essential that work is only undertaken when deemed safe to do so. The company employs a suite of health and safety processes and procedures to address operational risks and is committed to ongoing health and safety training of staff and contractors. In conclusion and looking ahead, the progress the company has made in 2024 is the most encouraging since we were invited by the ABG in 2012 to re-engage about the prospect of redevelopment of the Panguna mine. In particular, the granting of the five-year extension license in early 2024 ended years of uncertainty regarding tenure. Those intervening years were, however not wasted as the company continued to constructively engage with our key shareholders.
Our persistence has helped us to build trust and goodwill as a respectful and dependable project partner. It also paved the way for signing the LACA Land Access and Compensation Agreement with the project area landowners. The fact that the company was invited to Panguna for the signing event was very symbolic of the progress we have made. With the cooperation of landowner communities, we will continue to advance our feasibility work in the project area during the year ahead. At the same time, we will continue to explore investment partnership opportunities. In many respects, the story of BCL is one of renewal, with the company having forged its own local entity since Rio Tinto's departure in 2016. It is also a story of perseverance, and we are pleased that recent times have shown that by staying the course, real progress can be made.
In that vein, I would like to thank all of our shareholders and stakeholders for their continued support. Last but not least, I would like personally to thank my fellow directors for their support and wise counsel. Thank you, ladies and gentlemen. We will now, okay. We now turn to the formal business of this meeting. There are certain legal requirements concerning the conduct of annual general meetings. One of these is that only business which can be conducted is business for which notice has been given. At this stage, I'd like to announce that I declare that we receive 293,728,901 proxies held. That is about 73%. As per the notice of meeting, there are four items of ordinary business to be dealt with.
Item one, to receive and consider the balance sheet of the company as of 31st December 2024 and the statement of comprehensive income of the company for the year and the directors and auditors report. The company's annual report, which contains the financial statements and reports for 2024, is on the company's website. I hope all members have had an opportunity to consider these. Now I move that the balance sheet of the company as of 31st December 2024 and the statement of comprehensive income for the year ended on that date, the directors' report, and the report of the auditors for the same period be received and adopted. I ask that this motion be seconded. Thank you. I second the motion. I will now respond to any questions regarding the accounts. If there's any questions.
If not, as the accounts and reports cover the whole span of the company's activities, any general question you may have concerning the company's activities should be asked now. Okay, there's no questions. If there are no questions, I will now put the motion that the balance sheet of the company as of 31st December 2024 and the statement of comprehensive income of the company for the year ended 31st December 2024, the directors report and the report of the auditors for the year ended 31st December 2024 be received and adopted. Thank you. Item two is the election of directors. Director Kearnneth Nanei retires in accordance with the provisions of the Constitution of the Company and, being eligible, offers himself for reelection. I would like to now move that Kearnneth Nanei be elected as a director of the Company, and I ask that this motion be seconded.
Anyone?
Thank you. I will now put the motion that Kearnneth Nanei be appointed a director of Bougainville Copper Limited. Thank you. Director James Rutana retires in accordance with the provisions of the Constitution of the company and, being eligible, offers himself for reelection. I would like to now move that James Rutana be selected as a director of the company. I ask that this motion be seconded. I second it. Thank you. I will now put the motion that James Rutana be appointed a director of Bougainville Copper. Thank you. The next item is item three, the appointment of auditors and authorize the directors to fix their fees. You will note from the annual report that our auditors, PricewaterhouseCoopers, retire in accordance with the Constitution. Following a closed tender process, the company has selected KPMG to be appointed as auditors for 2025.
I move that KPMG be appointed auditors of the company for the ensuing year that the fee to be fixed by the auditors. I ask that this motion be seconded. I second it. Thank you. I will put the motion that KPMG be appointed auditors of the company for the ensuing year that the fee to be fixed by the directors. Thank you. Item four is other business. No notice of any other business has been received. Ladies and gentlemen, that concludes our discussion on items of business. In a couple of minutes, I will close the voting system. Please ensure that you have cast your vote on all resolutions. I will now pause to allow you time to finalize those votes. I'll wait a little bit. Voting is now closed. The results of these votes will be released to the stock exchange later today.
I would like to thank you, ladies and gentlemen, for attending this annual general meeting. Thank you.