Archive for the 'Mining' Category

State against a nation of landowners

Published on August 25, 2009 in Land and land reform and Mining. 5 Comments

“STATE OWNERSHIP OF MINERALS IS VITAL to the development of PNG as  a nation. State control of resources allows them to be developed for the benefits of all citizens as required by the Constitution”.  Bear in mind here that this is an argument that is coming from no one other than the President of the Papua New Guinea Chamber of Mines and Petroleum, Mr Greg Anderson (Post Courier 25th of August 2009).

Mr Anderson is concerned about proposed ammendments to the Mining Act which will divest the state of its ownership over mining and petroleum resources and transfer it to private ownership. It is not clear from the Post Courier article which category of people  who shall be entitled to ”private ownership” of resources but my hunch is that it would be landowners. If this assumption is in fact correct then, Mr Anderson is gravely concerned that

“the arguments presented for private ownership of resources were grossly misleading and simplistic and will stop any future resource development in PNG….The simple fact is that if a chance is made to mineral ownership, exploration will die, and there will be no new resource developments as the risk profile will be unacceptable to any potential developer. There will be a complete breakdown in the well established, internationally recognised system that underpins resource development in PNG. There will be no benefits for anyone.

The simple fact is that if a change is made to mineral ownership, exploration will die and there will be no new resource developments as the risk profile will be unacceptable to any potential developer. There will be a complete breakdown in the well established, internationally recognised system that underpins resource development in PNG. There will be no benefits for anyone. State ownerhip of minerals is vital to the development of PNG as a nation. State control of resources allows them to be developed for the benefit of all citizens as required by the Constitution. The resources are managed in an effective and orderly manner that is recognised internationally and accepted by the investor. Private ownership of minerals means that a few lucky individuals could expect to become rich at the expense of the rest. Papua New Guinea cannot develop as a nation under these conditions; it would splinter into groups driven by self-interest.

Again it is critical that the Post Courier should have specified who represents the class of private owners. But for the sake of argument, if these were landowners, then the argument Mr Anderson advocates is already in the interest of some private interest. In this regard the State should maintain its hold over such resources so that it could facilitate the exploitation and we know enough from Karl Marx about how the State institutions and bureaucrats serve in that regard.

If it were the landowners, why should we slavishly abide to a common law principle (the State ownership of resources) that doesnt comply with how Melanesians think and relate to land and questions of ownership? What are the philosophical assumptions that should now inform such an ammendment?

Mr Anderson makes a valid argument about the guarantee that a State should provide in such a scale of resource extraction. He also associates the State with orderliness, regulation redistribution of wealth and benefits. Is it not time enough to try out out alternative legislative frameworks that could achieve similar or better results than our present paradigm of State ownership. This is not the first time that this question has been debate. Two prominent Papua New Guinean legal thinkers, Bernard Narokobi and Peter Donigi, have wrestled with these questions in two separate books. It seems the question about State ownership versus a nation of landowners will never be resolved, and if paradigms are meant to be superceded then we live in an epochal moment where the possibility of initiating such a resolve begins with question of landownership in Melanesia

He said an exploration tenement gave the holder the right to explore for minerals or oil and gas which is an expensive and high risk activity.
The explorer’s only security is the tenement and the guarantee provided by the State that the explorer will have the right to develop any discoveries made on the tenement in accordance with requirements and obligations set by the State, Mr Anderson said.
“If any potential explorer believes that the State will not, or cannot, provide this guarantee with an acceptable risk profile then the explorer will not invest exploration dollars.”

Concerns over deep sea mining escalate

Published on July 3, 2008 in Mining. 1 Comment

Concerns over deep sea mining proposals are escalating across the Pacific region where exploration is moving at a fast pace. Australian national research organisation, the CSIRO has given further authority to the requests of indigenous peoples in the Bismark Ramu sea to halt these operations until more is known and the communities rights to exercise their rights over developments impacted their resources are recognised. Concerned peoples from across five provinces of PNG came together to discuss their concerns and declare their opposition to the current mode of development in late June 2008.

Indigenous People of Bismark and Solomon Seas Petition PNG Government to suspend sea bed mining in their territorial seas

Bismark Solomon Seas Indigenous People’s Council: Media release July 1st 2008

Indigenous peoples from around the Bismark and Solomon Seas gathered at Karkum village, Madang last week and signed a statement seeking to halt the current fast tracking of deep sea mining in their territorial seas.

More than 80 participants attended the meeting organised by the Madang People’s Forum and attended by community representatives from Manus, Kairiru island, New Ireland, Bagabag Island, Karkar Island, Riwo, Gildiasi, Rai Coast, and the statement was also endorsed by representatives of the Ramu River Authority, Simil Hondulwa Evangelical Alliance of PNG, New Ireland Students Association of University of Technology, Sea Turtle Restoration Project, Alemewo Foundation, the Catholic Church, Madang Rehabilitation and presented from Vanuatu, Porgera, plus observers from surrounding community based organisations, school teachers and students.

The participants established a council to guide their ongoing coordination and participation in the resource management of the shared marine resources and to seek resolution of their concerns at the local, national and international level.

Wenceslaus Magun, the newly elected interim chair of the Council stated, “We are calling upon the relevant bodies to halt activities that pose risks to our marine resources until steps have been taken to engage local people and address our concerns. Our livelihood and culture is based around these oceans and our people are dependent upon it for survival.”

Rick Steiner, Professor of Marine Biology from Alaska University who attended the forum to stated, “citizen oversight and monitoring of any proposed developments is essential to address the significant risks and threats to the marine environment that deep sea mining represent. Coastal resource owners need to assess these proposals to ensure they are in best interest of the communities whose resources at are risk and this meeting represents an important first step.”

Wence Magun: +675 3232632, +675 6825671, or +675 71959665; magun.wence@gmail.com

Professor Rick Steiner: arfgs@uaa.alaska.edu

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Frieda River Mine

Published on June 27, 2008 in Frieda mine and Mining. 3 Comments Tags: .

The Frieda River Mine is expected to come into full operation in 2012 and it shall have a lifespan of 23 years. The mine is located near the headwaters of the Sepik River in the border between East and West Sepik provinces. The Mine will be operated by Highlands Pacific Limited, a company incorporated in Papua New Guinea. According to geological reports provided by Highlands Pacific Limited, the ore potential found in the Frieda River area outsizes the neighbouring Ok Tedi Mine with a heavy presence of gold and copper accompanied by a rich concentration of other metals as well. This mineral wealth carries an attractive financial projection that runs into billions of kina. The newspaper articles below carry the reports and some of the issues relating to the Frieda River Mine.

This is the original article which appeared in the business section of The National on 25 April 2008

I wrote a response to this report which appeared in The National on 5 May 2008

Greg Anderson, from the PNG Chamber of Mines and Petroleum, responded to my concerns with a letter that appeared in The National on 30 May 2008

A prominent Papua New Guinea lawyer, John Gawi, who is himself from the Sepik River has written a letter of response to the above letter by Greg Anderson. Mr Gawi demands that environmental plans for the Frieda River Mine must be put in place before the government and the developers rush into the production phase. Mr. Gawi’s letter could be found in The National of 27th June 2008. Concerns about this particular mine is continuing.

Is there such a thing as an “environmentally friendly mine”?

Published on June 24, 2008 in Frieda mine and Mining. 7 Comments Tags: .

The letter entitled “Frieda will not be an ecological disaster” penned by Greg Anderson of the PNG Chamber of Mines and Petroleum (The National 30/05/08) must not go unchallenged. This letter is written with a self-approving moral corrective that seeks to rectify what Mr Anderson perceives as the incorrect assumptions of the letter I wrote about the Frieda River Mine (The National 05/05/08). Anderson’s letter is swayed by an admirable intent to paint a positive image of the mining industry in PNG. It carries the message that mining and mineral wealth plays an important role in digging out PNG from its persistent confinement in the bottomless pit of economic miseries.

People in isolated locales in PNG need mines because mines provide necessary services and infrastructure development that the PNG Government is not able to provide. Thus geographic isolation and economic marginalism provide an attractive rationale for mines to be opened. It is a geographical fact that all the mining that has ever gone on in PNG takes place in very isolated environs in the country. However, in the same breath isolationism and marginalism have contributed towards isolating environmental issues from the extractive agenda of mining companies. The Fly River experience is more than a case in point. The government and company are interested mainly in the landowners around the mining area, but the majority of the people who shall bear the ultimate brunt of this mine are marginalised from the radar of environmental concerns.

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