Bougainville Mining Ltd (now Bougainville Copper Limited — BCL) sponsored the establishment of Panguna Development Foundation Limited (PDF) to promote equity participation by indigenous residents of Papua New Guinea in the Bougainville project and service industries. PDF was a company incorporated by guarantee.

In April 1971, Bougainville Mining Ltd allotted 1,000,000 ordinary shares of AU50 cents each to the Foundation at a premium of AU$1.05 per share, paid to one cent each. Subsidiaries of the Foundation have been established to operate various commercial enterprises in which local residents of Papua New Guinea will be invited to participate. The main asset of PDF and its principal source of income were these shares.

PDF was established as a separate corporate entity with the proviso that its income and property would be applied solely for the benefit of the Papua New Guinea community. Thus no profit from the operations of PDF or its subsidiary companies could flow on to CRA (now Rio Tinto ) or BCL.

Aided by an initial grant of K2.9 million from BCL, PDF established a wholesale and retail trading complex to help meet the requirements of the community. Once self-sufficiency was achieved in the Arawa store steps were taken to offer Bougainvilleans shares in the operating company set up to run this store. It was planned to extend the local participation to include all of the PDF trading activities.

In 1979 the North Solomons Medical Foundation was established with a view to promoting medical services in the community.

The Panguna Development Foundation continued its community development activities with emphasis in the North Solomons Province . As a result of its long-term investments, the Foundation was largely self-supporting, although BCL continued financial support. In 1988 this amounted to K0.5 million.